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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.arc.hive.org/details/whalingfishingOOnord 



¥HALIIG AID FISHING. 



~BY 



CHARLES NOBDHOFF, 

AUTHOR OF MAN-OF-WAR LIFE; THE MERCHANT VESSEL. 



6ST3/ 



CINCINNATI: 

MOOEE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO 

25 West Fourth Street 
1856. 



*3 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO., 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 

Southern District of Ohio. 



Stereotyped and Printed by 
WILLIAM OVBREND & CO. 



PREFACE 



With this volume my story of life at sea is 
complete. I have endeavored to give a strictly 
faithful account of the various phases of a sailor's 
existence. I have borne in mind the usual 
objection to books of this class : that they are 
likely to inspire youth with an uneasy longing 
for a wandering, worthless mode of life. And as 
my little books were likely to interest young men 
and boys, my aim has been to give a plain com- 
mon sense picture of that about which a false 
romance throws many charms. If anything I 
have written on this subject shall induce a young 
man, launching into life, to make a sensible 
choice of evils, by looking elsewhere than to the 
Sea for the adventurous existence which his spirit 
requires, I shall be rewarded. 

(Hi.) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Whalemen Wanted! A Whaling Shipping Office — The 
Man-of-Wars-man — The Merchant Seaman — The Whale- 
man — Talk with the Shipper — I determine on a 
Whaling Cruise — Go to New Bedford. - - - - 11 

CHAPTER II. 

New Bedford — The Town — The Wharves _ The Shipping 
Office — Prospective Whalemen — Old Bill — The Outfit- 
ters — Tricks upon the Greenhorns — Hezekiah Ellsprett 
Claims the Captain's Stateroom — Old Bill and the 
Ship-owner — The Transformation. - - - - 22 

CHAPTER III. 
The Sag Harbor Whalemen — Shipped at last — Arrange- 
ment of a Whaleship's Decks — The Try Works — The 
Boats — The Lower Deck — Sailing Day — Our Crew — 
Seasickness — Training the Greenhorns — Labors of an 
Outward Bound Whaleman — Drudgery. - - - 40 

CHAPTER IV. 

Land Ho ! Fayal — Anxiety of all hands to get ashore — 
Portuguese — Their resignation — Fruit — We continue 
the voyage — Fitting the vessel for her cruise — Drilling 
the crew in the boats — The line — Chasing Blackfish — 
Provisions — Cooks. --.... 56 

(v) 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V 



Sabbath — Our Captain's Whaling experience — Land Ho ! 
The Scene of a battle — Tristan d'Acunha — The story 
of its settlement — Governor Glass — The internal econ- 
omy of the settlement — Intercourse with shipping — 
General appearance of the Island — A wreck — An excit- 
ing; race — Madagascar or Malaga ? - - - - 74 



CHAPTER VI. 

The " Cruising Ground " — What constitutes Whale Ground 
— How the Ha ants of Whales are Discovered — The Disci- 
pline of a Whaleship on a cruise — Monotony of the 
Life — Drawing Water — Portuguese Man-of-war — Cape 
St. Mary's, of Madagascar — Raising a Finback — 
"There she blows" — A false Alarm — Sperm Whales 
— Preparation for lowering — " Going on to a Whale " — 
"Give it to him ! "— The Whales run — The Chase — 
The last Desperate Effort, and accompanying Mishap 
— "Getting stove" — A furious Whale — We are picked 
up, and lose the Whale. 92 



CHAPTER VII. 

Fitting a new Boat — We raise Whales again — Our Boat 
gets fast — The Whale takes out the Line — The Mate 
despairs — Sunset — The third Mate refastens — The 
Mate kills the Whale — " There's Blood " — The Flurry- 
Getting a Fish alongside — Cutting in — Wrenching 
off the Head — The Teeth — The Junk — The Case — 
Extraordinary gathering of Sharks — Their Rapacity 

— Trying out — Horse-pieces — Blanket-pieces — Mincing 

— Division of Labor — A Mght Scene — Nauseating 
Labor — Picking out fat-lean — Stowing down the Oil — 
Clearing up Decks. - 114 



CONTEXTS. Vll 

CHAPTER VIII. 

" Gamming " —Sail Ho I — The Betsy Ann — Her Crew — 
A " Merchant Sailor " — A Council — A school of Whales 
— A race between two Whale boats — The Offer to share 
the Chances refused — It is our Whale — The Barza- 
roota Islands — Procuring Wood — A strange Fish — 
Harpooning Hippopotami — We cause one to "spout 
blood " — Tow it Ashore — Hippopotamus Steak — A 
Night Visit to the Shore for the Purpose of Killing a 
few Hippopotami, with its Results. - - . 133 

CHAPTER IX. 

No Whales — Tediousness of the Life — Expedients to kill 
Time — The Habits of Sperm Whales — Their Food — 
The Sperm Whale Squid —Its Arms— The Whale's Teeth, 
and how it is supposed that he uses them — Means of 
Defense possessed by Whales — The right Whale — The 
Humpback — Quickness of Motion of a Sperm Whale — 
Lowering in a Calm — Difficulty of approaching a Whale at 
such a Time — He Listens — Sudden disappearance — 
Chasing a gallied Whale — Rainy Weather — Bourbon — 
Determination to leave the Vessel at the first Opportu- 
nity — The Coast of Madagascar — A Story of St. 
Mary's Shoal. - 156 

CHAPTER X. 

Something further concerning the habits of Whales — 
The Humpback — Their liability to Sink when dead — 
Antongil Bay — Our Anchorage — The denizens of the 
Jungle — Our first Whaling day — A Word concerning 
the Weather — Actions of Whales — Close of the first 
Day — The Night — Another Deluge — We get fast — 
The Whale spouts Blood — Tenacity of Life — Towing a 
dead Whale — Cutting in — Trying out — A " Cow and 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

a Calf "—Strong affection of the Mother-Whale — How 
Whalemen take advantage of this — The Calf is killed 

— The Sharks eat up our Whale — Scaring a Humpback 
—Its Results. 174 

CHAPTER XI. 

Antongil Bay, continued — Whaling near Desolation Island 
— Teddy — A Character — Sea-Lions — How they are Cap- 
tured — Tannanarevou — A City on a hill top — The 
Natives — The Scurvy — Burying a Man — Nearly a Ghost 
Story — The Cook's opinion of Ghosts — Attempts at 
explanation, meet with no Favor — The Result — Prepar- 
ing to leave the Bay — Our first and only Holiday in the 
Bay — A Tour of Exploration — Disturbing an Ant's nest 

— Flying Foxes — We proceed to Sea. ... -194 

CHAPTER XII. 

St. Mary, Madagascar — Applying for Liberty — It is 
granted — Sickness Ashore — The Town and Fort — Two 
Men remain over night — They are taken sick and die 

— An Auction — Reflections — The Seychelles — Plans 
for leaving the Vessel — We raise a School of Whales — 
How a dead Whale makes headway against the Wind — 
Striking a Finback — "There blows" — The excitement 
of " going on" to a Whale — Fast and Loose — A Whale's 
Revenge — The Boat Stove. - - - -210 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Mahe — A Newspaper — The Islands — Their Inhabitants — A 
lazy man's Paradise — Plans for Escape — George Thomp- 
son's Yarn — A Cruise in a Whale boat — The Escape — 
Sailing along Shore— The Arrival at Mozambique — Con- 
cerning Attempts to Desert from. Whaleships — Some 
Reasons for the Frequency of such Attempts. - - 231 



CONTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER XIV. 



"Liberty" — The Massowah Vessel — She wants a Hand 

— I go alongside — The Vessel is searched — We sail — 
The trip to the Mauritius — The Crew — The Captain — 
Discipline — The Land — Port Louis Harbor — I gain an 
unexpected Friend — I take charge of the Captain's 
Boat — A trip to Tombo Bay — Paul and Virginia — The 
Island — Its state under the French — Under British 
rule — Malabar Apprentices — Malabar Town — The 
Natives — Chinese. 246 

CHAPTER XV. 

A Touching Ceremony — A Sailor's Grave — I turn Boatman 
— Life in the Isle of France — Seeking Employment — Joe 
Rodgers — A Bullock Drogher — Tamatave Bay — The 
place of Sculls — Hump cattle — Our return Passage — 
Taming wild Cattle — Sancho — His docility — Meeting 
Ashore — Difficulty of leaving so warm a Friend — A 
Wedding. 270 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Annie — Her Captain — I Ship in her — Our Crew — 
A ' Clipper's Forecastle — Sleeping Zh's-acconimodations 
■ — Steering — " Humbugging " — Planning a Mutiny 

— Counter Planning — The African Coast — Algoa Bay — 
The Anchorage — Surf-boats — Cape Boors — A South 
Easter — A Double Wreck — Lloyd's Agent. - - -285 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Consequences of the Wreck — A New Crew — Scotch 
English — Uses of a Barometer — A South-easter Squall 
— Return to Port Louis — Ship for England — The Pauline 
Houghton — Talking to the Mate — Our Crew — Paddy 
— An examination in Seamanship — The Ship — Her 



X CONTENTS. 

rotten rigging — The Captain's daily siesta — The Mate 
gets himself into trouble — How to gain the respect of 
a tyrant — Shooting at a mark — The Trades — Paddy's 
last torture — Short handed — Sufferings — Recuperat- 
ing — Seeking a Berth — The last act of Tyranny — 
Paying off — A " Recommendation." - -310 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

I wait for the Barque — Disappointed — " Working" a Pas- 
sage — New Tork after two years' Absence — Coasting — 
Cape Men — Smyra, the Cook — Our Crew go Home — Ship 
Keeping — Solitude leads to Reflection — A Coaster's Life 
—A " Stranger "—The Cape— The Mary Hawes— A 
"Fish Crew" — Fishing "at Half Line"— We Sail — 
Preparing for Business — The Vessel — Her Captain. - 34:2 

CHAPTER XIX. 

♦'The Fleet"— A Night Scene— The First Day on Fish 
Ground — Habits of Mackerel — Advantages of being in a 
Fast Vessel — Why there is a "Fleet" — Method of 
Taking Mackerel — Bait used — Monotony of the Fisher- 
man's Life — A Fish-day — Premonitory Symptoms — Rain 
— "Shorten Up" — Breakfast — Dressing Fish — Making 
a Harbor — Salting down — Coming to Anchor — After 
Supper Comforts — The Morning after a Storm — The 
Close of the Trip — Depart for New York — I Determine 
to quit the Sea — and do so — Difficulties Attending such 
a Change with the Sailor. 359 



WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER I. 

Whalemen- Wanted! — A Whaling Shipping Office — The Man- 
of-wars-man — The Merchant Seamen — The Whaleman — Talk 
with the Shipper — I Determine on a Whaling Cruise — Go to 
New Bedford. 

" Landsmen Wanted ! ! One thousand 

STOTJT YOUNG MEN, AmEEICANS, WANTED 

for the fleet of whaleships, now fitting out 
for the North and South Pacific Fisheries. 

"Extra chances given to Coopers, Car- 
penters and Blacksmiths. 

" None but industrious young men, with 
good recommendations, taken. Such will 
have superior chances for advancement. 

" Outfits, to the amount of seventy-eive 
dollaes furnished to each individual, be- 
fore proceeding to sea. 



12 WHALING AND FISHING. 

" Persons desirous to avail themselves of 
the present splendid opportunity of seeing 
the world, and at the same time acquiring a 
profitable business, will do well to make 
early application to the undersigned." 

Such were the contents of a flaring poster, 
whose bright capitals caught my eye, as one morn- 
ing I was rambling with a shipmate along South 
street, on the East Eiver side of ISTew York. Such 
notices are no rarity in the Eastern seaports. 
"Whale crews" are in almost constant demand, 
and these "Wants" and " Eine Chances," stare 
one in the face on nearly every street corner. They 
are the lures by means of which the farm-boys, 
the factory -boys, and the city -boys are drawn to 
the net of the shipper. The very hopeful, and 
delightful, but somewhat overdrawn picture of a 
whaleman's life, here in few words set forth, has 
enticed many a tolerably honest, but withal lazy 
lad to seek the shipper's office, and engage himself 
for a three or four years cruise. 

To a sailor this avenue to a whaleship is 
hermetically sealed. Neither here nor in New 
Bedford is he at all likely to be shipped — for 
experience has taught the captains and owners of 
whaling vessels that your real tar is too uneasy 
a creature to be kept in good order for so long a 
cruise as whalemen now-a-days generally make. 

Knowing very well that the shippers will not 



THE SHIPPING OFFICE. 13 

engage them, it is no uncommon amusement 
with sailors, to step into one of these whaling 
shipping offices, and make all manner of inquiries 
concerning the business, the pay, the prospects of 
success, and finally perhaps, to offer to engage 
themselves — at which last stage the agent gener- 
ally breaks off all communication by informing 
his mischievous visitors that he has at present no 
chances open. 

" Here's the office, Charley," said my shipmate, 
who had been amusing himself at the expense of 
one of the bright posters we had passed. " Let's 
go in and talk a little to the old fellow. I'll ask 
him if he don't remember shipping me as boat- 
steerer in the Happy-go-lucky." 

" You don't look green enough for a whaleman, 
Jack," said I. 

" "No" answered he, giving his trowsers an 
extra hitch, and his rakish little hat a more know- 
ing set, "there's no green here, lad; but come in." 

We stepped into a tolerably roomy office, divided 
into two unequal parts by a railing, behind which 
stood a desk, upon which leaned a tall, black- 
bearded, shrewd looking man. This proved to be 
the shipper, or shipping-master, as this dignitary 
is styled by seamen. The front and largest divi- 
sion of the office was furnished with several long 
forms or benches, ranged along the wall, some 
chairs, and an occasional spit-box. On the benches 
reclined at full length three as verdant specimens 
of humanity as could be easily conceived of. Dirty, 



14 WHALING AND FISHING. 

lazy looking wretches they were, withal, whose 
begrimed faces, and filthy shirts betokened a most 
inconsistent aversion to the element upon which 
they were about to seek their fortunes. One of 
them I noticed had already taken the initiatory 
step in sailorship — his mouth was filled with to- 
bacco, and the saliva was trickling from the lower 
corner, to the floor beneath. 

" Industrious young men, with good recom- 
mendations," muttered jny companion, in a very 
audible whisper. 

The shipper evidently looked upon us as rather 
unwelcome intruders, and did not hesitate to tell 
us, that there were no chances to ship. 

" Don't you want to ship a good Eoatsteerer ? " 
asked my friend, in reply to this hint. 

"Do you mean to say that you were ever 
whaling? " was the Yankee answer to this. The 
accustomed eye of the shipper had seen at first 
glance that neither of us were whalemen; and had 
we disguised ourselves with all possible care, he 
would still have been as sure as before, of this. It 
is a singular fact, that seamen, as also those who 
have much dealings with them, can tell, almost at 
a single glance at a sailor, and with the most un- 
erring certainty, what special department of his 
business he has most generally followed. What 
may be the actual distinguishing marks, it would 
be difficult to say. But they are there, plainly 
visible to the initiated, and unconcealable by any 
but the most experienced old seadogs, who, having 



SEAMEN. 15 

seen a little of all services, sometimes succeed in 
making themselves a puzzle, even to the discrim- 
inating vision of the shipper. 

Of these distinguishing marks it may be said 
however, that the man-of- wars -man is known, by 
a certain jaunty neatness of attire, and a some- 
thing dashing, and carelessly gay, in his air and 
manner, which is above all others his peculiarity. 
Let him dress as he will, he can never drop that 
air of saucy recklessness. 

The merchant seaman is rough, weatherbeaten, 
with hard features, face and neck bronzed by 
many suns, and hands swollen by hard work. But 
he is more particularly distinguishable by an in- 
discribable awkwardness, in manner and gait. 
Toil and exposure have made his body stiff and 
clumsy. His tout ensemble presents more angulari- 
ties than that of his brother of the service, and in 
his motions he displays none of the easy grace of 
the latter. Withal, his clothing fits him badly. 
The most skillful tailor gives him up in despair, 
and he lumbers through the world with an ungainly 
roll, which somehow puts one in mind of a bear. It 
is in storm, and danger, " in the times that try 
men's souls," that Forecastle Jack shows to ad- 
vantage. 

But how shall I describe a whaleman ? that 
walking embodiment Bag-fair — " patch upon 
patch, and a patch over all." While Jack and I are 
taking a survey of the office, there comes in a fair 
specimen of the genus. " He is a boatsteerer " — 



16 WHALING AND FISHING. 

the shipper whispers to me as he sees him enter 
the door j and he is probably a smart fellow, else 
would he not be cordially welcomed in and atten- 
tively listened to by that worthy. 

He is a rather slender, middle-sized man, with a 
very sallow cheek, and hands tanned of a deep and 
enduring saffron color. He is very round-shoulder- 
ed, the effect possibly of much pulling at his oar. 
He has a singular air of shabbiness about him, as 
though he had bought his fit-out in Chatham 
street, of some dealer in second-hand garments. 
Neither does he look at all at home in the " shore 
clothes " which he carries about. His shoes are 
rough and foxy, and the strings trail upon the 
ground, as he walks. His trowsers fail to connect, 
by several inches, showing a margin of coarse, 
grey woolen sock, intervening between their bot- 
toms, and his shoes. A portion of his red flannel 
drawers is visible, above the waistband of his 
pantaloons ; while a rusty black handkerchief 
at the throat, fastened by a large ring, made of 
the tooth of a sperm whale, and inlaid with mother- 
of-pearl, keeps together a shirt bosom, which is in- 
nocent of a single button. A cutaway coat of sum- 
mer-cloth, and a little glazed cap complete his cos- 
tume. But that which strikes one as his most mark- 
ed peculiarity is a certain uncertainty in his gaze, 
which seems to betoken a lack of self-confidence. 
He moves along with a spiritless dawdle, which is. 
quite in unison with his general expression of list- 
lessness. He evidently feels but ill at ease in 



ABOATSTEERER. 17 

shoes and stockings. He speaks in an undertone, 
as though not judging it worth while to talk 
louder. His appearance is thoroughly unprepos- 
sessing, and calculated to give one the impression 
that he is quite the reverse of " smart." 

This is a whaleman, ashore. 

"Who is he?" I asked of the shipper, as he 
lounged out of the office door, after receiving some 
money, evidently the object of his visit to the 
shipjung-office. 

" That fellow," was the answer, spoken with 
some degree of pride ; " that's Ezekiel Wixon, a 
mighty smart man, I can tell you, and death on a 
sperm whale. I've got him a birth as third mate 
and boatsteerer in the finest ship that will sail 
from ISTew Bedford this season, and I would not 
hesitate to bet money that he will be chief mate 
of her next voyage." 

I should never have guessed it, from his appear- 
ance ; but it was even so. And when I subse- 
quently came to ISTew Bedford, I found this awk- 
ward looking fellow hand-in-glove with every 
out-fitter in the place — a sure sign that his smart- 
ness as a whale-man was beyond doubt. 

While I was talking to the shipper, my com- 
panion saw something in the street to attract his 
attention, and left me. Being thus without com- 
pany I continued my conversation with the talk- 
ative shipping-master, gaining from him some 
information in regard to a branch of the whaling 
business, of which I had hitherto learnt but little. 



18 WHALING AND PISHING. 

He explained to me how and on what terms the 
greenhands, or landsmen, as with a proper respect 
for the income they produced him he preferred to 
call them, were engaged, as well as many par- 
ticulars then heard by me for the first time, in 
regard to the manner in which " the hands " are 
fitted out for a whaling cruise. 

There are shipping-offices in all the principal 
American seaports, as well as in some of the cities 
bordering on the lakes. Each of these offices has 
its headquarters at New Bedford or some other of 
the whaling ports, and thither such men as they 
can pick up, are sent, at the risk and expense of 
the shipper. On their arrival, they are taken in 
charge by the resident agent, who provides them 
with boarding houses, and next proceeds to pro- 
cure for them places on board some outward bound 
vessel. The shipper charges ten dollars per man 
for his services, besides having his outlays refunded 
him. These expenses, as well as board bill for the 
time the prospective whaleman is obliged to re- 
main in port, are included in the seventy-five 
dollars outfit which figures so conspicuously on 
the posters before mentioned. 

As neither shippers nor outfitters receive a cent 
from the owners till the vessel is fairly at sea, it 
behooves them to pick out the steadiest looking 
men. Frequent loss has taught them to regard 
the fickle-minded sailor with a large degree of 
aversion, and to cherish a corresponding degree 
of good feeling toward every degree and kind 



AN OLD SHIPMATE. 19 

of verdancy, from that of the farmer boy, to that 
no less evident, of the "counter-jumper." 

" In fact," remarked the shipper to me, " it 
would never do for us to bring sailors to a whaling 
port, for the owners will not take them in their 
ships. You old salts are an unquiet set, and 
never make good whalemen." 

With a smile at his opinion of sailors, I took 
my leave of the shipper. His account of New 
Bedford, which was his chief scene of operations, 
had aroused my curiosity to see somewhat of a 
whaling port, and I began to think seriously of 
taking a trip thither in some little coaster, and 
spending some weeks there. I had still money 
enough — why not indulge this whim ? 

As I walked along, ruminating upon my plan, 
an old acquaintance, a captain of a coaster, with 
whom I had made a voyage once before the mast, 
accosted me, and after shaking hands, and a 
hearty inquiry after my welfare, asked me if 1 
would not go with him to New Bedford. 

" I'll only want a man to help me as far as 
there, where I have now one of my old hands, 
waiting for the vessel (a little schooner), and 
I'll give you five dollars for the run." 

" Agreed," said I, without stopping to take a 
second thought ; " when do you sail ? " 

" To-morrow morning, with the first flood." 

We walked down aboard the schooner, a neat 
little craft of some sixty tuns, and talked over 
old times for a while, when I returned to my 



20 WHALING AND FISHING. 

boarding house, to pack up ray luggage, and pre- 
pare myself for the morrow. On mature con- 
sideration, I determined to take all my effects 
along with me, so that should I make up my mind 
to ship for a cruise in a whaler, I should be 
prepared. 

Accordingly on the following morning, I bade 
good-by to the few ship-mates whom I had met 
while in ]N"ew York that time, (but without com- 
municating to any one of them my thoughts con- 
cerning making a cruise in a wmaler), and took 
my chest and hammock aboard the schooner. 
The tide serving soon after I got on board, we 
cast off from the pier and stood up the river, amid 
a fleet of coasters, all bound through Hurlgate, and 
up " the Sound." It was a fair day, in midsum- 
mer, and as we sailed along with a pleasant 
breeze, my old shipmate, the captain, or skipper, as 
he was most generally addressed, sat himself down 
by me to have another talk over days past, when 
we were together inmates of a forecastle, and to 
hear somewhat of my adventures since. 

" But why did you bring with you all your 
things, Charley ?" said he, when at length I had 
brought my yarn to a close. 

"Well," I answered, with some degree of hesi- 
tation, for I was half ashamed to disclose my 
thoughts even to an old friend, " I have half an 
idea of shipping in a whaler." 

" I hope you won't make such a fool of your- 
self, my dear fellow," was the answer to this. 



PASSAGE TO NEW BEDFORD. 21 

" At any rate," continued lie, " there's but little 
danger of it, for no owner or captain in New Bed- 
ford, would ship such an old salt as you." 

Kow, I may as well own here, that this con- 
tinued assertion, that I would not be able to 
obtain a birth in any whaleship in New Bedford, 
had the effect of adding much strength to my at 
first but weakly entertained wish. The more 
insurmountable seemed the difficulties which 
hedged about my undertaking, the more earnestly 
it took hold of my mind, and the more desirable 
did its attainment appear to me. And thus it 
came about, that before we reached New Bedford, 
I was firmly resolved to leave no avenue un- 
tried, in my effort to obtain a place on a whaler. 
It must not be supposed however, that the wish to 
make a trial of whaling, and add this to my expe- 
riences of sea life, was altogether of so late a date 
as the previous day. On the contrary, I had long 
entertained the determination to make a whale 
cruise at some time or other, and every whaling 
yarn spun in a forecastle served to keep alive 
this thought. But I had never before now set a 
time and place for the carrying into effect of this 
idea. 



22 WHALING AND FISHING. 



CHAPTER II. 

New Bedford — The Town — The Wharves — The Shipping Office 
— Prospective Whalemen — Old Bill — The Outfitters — Tricks 
upon the Greenhorns — Hezekiah Ellsprett claims the Cap- 
tain's Stateroom — Old Bill and the Ship-owner — The Trans- 
formation. 

We arrived in New Bedford after a short and 
pleasant run of twenty hours through the Sound. 
As soon as the vessel was anchored opposite the 
wharves, I persuaded the cook to set me ashore, 
and proceeded to seek a boarding house, and take 
a preliminary survey of the town. 

I experienced no difficulty in securing a place 
where, for a very moderate sum per week, I was 
to be furnished with what the good lady called 
" lodging and victuals," and, after getting my lug- 
gage ashore, and receiving the five dollars due me 
for helping to work the schooner to this place, I 
set out on a ramble over the town. This I found 
to differ in many particulars from any other 
American seaport I had ever been in, and, indeed, 
from any conceptions I had formed in my own 
mind of its general appearance. 

For a place in which so large a business is car- 
ried on as here, "Bedford" is remarkably still. 
At the distance of three squares from the water 



NEW BEDFORD. 23 

Bide, one would never guess that he stood within 
the bounds of a city which ranks in commercial 
importance the seventh seaport in the Union, and 
whose ships float upon every ocean. A more quiet 
and rural looking place than that portion of the 
city beyond the immediate business limits, it 
would be difficult to imagine. And a more beau- 
tifully laid out or better kept city I never saw. 
It was now mid-summer, and the spacious man- 
sions, embowered in green foliage, which border 
the principal streets, looked really enchanting to 
my eyes, long wearied with monotonous salt water 
views; while a walk up the well shaded streets 
was like a trip into the country. New Bedford 
well deserves the name of being one of the most 
beautiful cities in New England. 

The business portion of the town is confined 
within a comparatively limited space. One long 
street, running parallel with wharves, is almost 
exclusively devoted to the shops of the outfitters, 
who play a far from unimportant part in the 
drama of whaling, and of whom more particular 
mention will be made further on. On the little 
branch streets by which this main street commu- 
nicates with the water side, the sailor boarding 
houses are mainly found. Many of these are 
kept by the widows of departed whalemen, who 
earn a scanty subsistence by providing the afore- 
mentioned " lodgeing and victuals " for numer- 
ous youthful aspirants to spouting honors, who 
here do congregate. 



24 WHALING AND FISHING. 

Passing by the boarding houses, we come to the 
wharves, along which, fronting the water side, 
are the warehouses and counting rooms of vari- 
ous ship owners and dealers in oil, bone, and 
spermaceti. These are scattered along, without 
regular connection, the scene varied here and 
there by a blacksmith's or cooper's shop, which 
two branches of industry seem to be in a pecu- 
liarly nourishing condition hereabouts. 

Looking down to the water now, we see a few 
straggling wharves, between which lie numerous 
vessels in various states of readiness and unreadi- 
ness for departure on their long voyages. 

Here lies a huge hull, careened over on the flat, 
her exposed side and bottom being thoroughly 
resheathed and new coppered, dozens of men 
crawling all over her vast bilge, sawing, fitting, 
and hammering. Yonder is an old hulk, whose 
topsides have been torn away, to make room for 
new ones, by which means she will become almost 
as strong as a new vessel. Here, at the wharf, is 
a craft in a more forward state; her masts are 
now being put in, and as we are looking at her, a 
general shout proclaims that the main -mast has 
just been stepped. And a little farther on we 
see a rusty -looking old tub, just being converted 
into a saucy clipper by the aid of a plentiful ap- 
plication of paint. 

All is life, and wherever the eye rests the scene 
is one of ceaseless activity. Yet there appears 
none of the hurrying, bustle, and in particular, 



THE WHARVES. 25 

none of the noise which is a disagreeable attend- 
ant on all business about the wharves of other 
large cities. In this, more than aught else, ISTew 
Bedford differs from any other American seaport. 

The stranger, placed on these wharves, in igno- 
rance of his locality, would not long be without 
the material on which to predicate a reasonable 
guess. At every few steps, all locomotion is hin- 
dered or obstructed by long tiers of huge, dirty 
casks, redolent of train oil, while ever and 
anon, one stumbles over a bundle of whalebone, 
or brings up against a pile of harpoons, lances, 
boatspades, and other implements for dealing 
death to leviathan — all of which proclaim " in 
language not to be mistaken," the calling of the 
place. With here and there a patched, weather- 
beaten whaleboat, turned bottom up upon the 
shore, and an occasional pile of oars, the view is 
tolerably complete. 

But I imagine the wharves of ^"ew Bedford 
would be incomplete without a due sprinkling 
.of prospective whalemen, wandering listlessly 
about, looking up with silent wonder at the, to 
them, vast hight of the ships' masts, or perhaps 
sagely inquiring "when the apartments for the 
sailors will be ready for their reception ?" 

My first day in New Bedford was devoted to a 
lengthened stroll through the city, and over the 
wharves. I satisfied a curiosity long entertained, 
by a close examination of several whaling vessels, 
just come home, or being fitted for a cruise, and 



26 WHALING AND FISHING. 

there remarking in what the general arrangements 
of the decks and rigging of a " blubber-hunter" 
differ from those of a merchant clipper. By the 
time I got my breakfast on the following morn- 
ing, I had fully determined to ship here for a 
whale cruise. My first object, therefore, was to 
make the acquaintance of some one of the ship- 
pers, and induce him to use his influence in procur- 
ing me a berth. Having obtained directions 
to the most extensive shipping establishments 
in town, I called in, in the course of the forenoon,' 
to settle the preliminaries, and inquire as to the 
terms on which men were engaged. 

Turning down one of the little by-streets which 
lead from the main street to the water side, I 
came upon a large building, evidently once used 
as a factory, which I saw by a conspicuous sign 
over the principal entrance, was a " Shipping 
Office." Entering, I saw before me, in a very long 
room, about sixty young men, some lying down 
upon the bare floor, some lounging upon boxes, 
and a few, sitting in a corner apart, having a 
stealthy game at cards. A few were reading, but 
the greater number were whittling pine sticks, 
and keeping up a running fire of low ribaldry, 
wherein the most vulgar was evidently the best 
liked. These were embryo whalemen, the pros- 
pective slayers of countless leviathans, the humble 
instruments of shedding no inconsiderable quan- 
tity of light upon their country. 

Some I noticed, had already donned portions 



GREEN HANDS. 27 

of their out-fit, and strutted about in linsey wool- 
sey shirts, ill-fitting pepper-and-salt trowsers, and 
glazed hats; evidently producing quite an im- 
pression upon themselves, as well as upon their 
less fortunate comrades, who not yet having 
shipped, were compelled to retain their now 
heartily despised " longtogs." 

Yery few among them had beards. Most of 
them were very young men, or rather, overgrown 
boys — already too large ever to become good sea- 
men — but just at that age when they would con- 
tract all the vices of the sailor, without gaining 
one of the good qualities which, in Jack Tar, 
sometimes go far to counterbalance and cover up 
his multitude of sins. I felt sorry for these strip- 
lings, thus sundering themselves from all the re- 
straints of civilized life. There were among them 
some intelligent faces, and a few, a very few — not 
more than two or three of the fifty or sixty 
present — who bore in their countenances and 
their manners the unmistakable evidences of 
careful and moral training. 

Most of those before me had already made a 
beginning upon the paths of vice, and for them 
the sea was pleasant only in so far as they thought 
to find in a sailor's life a larger license than the 
laws and customs of the shore permit. 

I was not long in the hall, ere I found my- 
self an object of very general attention, its in- 
mates evidently guessing at once that I was a 
sailor, the genuine article which some of them 



28 WHALING AND FISHING. 

were so ridiculously attempting to counterfeit. It 
was comical to see how closely they watched my 
every movement, each endeavoring to copy some 
particular air or way, which, above all else, struck 
him as still necessary to render his own appear- 
ance that of a regular built Jack Tar. 

While I was yet watching their maneuvers, one 
of the crowd, hitching up his pantaloons, which 
threatened every moment to fall down over his 
hips, waddled up to me, and adjusting his hat as 
nearly after the sailor manner as he was able to 
at the moment, said : 

" I say, sir, you're a sailor, are you not ?" 

" That's the best guess you've made since you 
cast loose from your mammy's apron-strings, 
greeney," said a jolly voice at my back, whose 
tones seemed somehow very familiar to my ear. 

I turned quickly in its direction, but had scarce 
faced the speaker, when I felt myself encircled 
in two huge arms, and the breath nearly squeezed 
out of my body, while a stentorian voice hallooed 
almost in my ears, "by the great hook-block, it's 
Charley." 

When I got myself out of the bear -like em- 
brace of my huge friend, I found that he was an 
old shipmate — a topmate during the greater part 
of a three years cruise in a man-of-war. Of 
course, our meeting was deemed a fortunate one 
by both of us, and Bill at once proposed to cele- 
brate it by a glass of "the very best liquor you 
ever drank, Charley." 



MEETING A SHIPMATE. 29 

I persuaded my old friend to postpone the 
drinking, and we locked arms and took a walk 
along the wharves, during which we talked over 
old times, compared notes as to our various adven- 
tures since we had parted, some three years before, 
and I finally learnt what had brought him to Xew 
Bedford, the very last place where I should have 
expected to see so staunch an old sailor as my 
former topmate. It was not lack of funds, as I 
had at first imagined, but simply a caprice of the 
old fellow, who had been a whaleman in his early 
youth, and had now a notion to refresh his memo- 
ries of auld lang syne by another cruise. 

"Besides," said he, "you know I can never 
make anything in a merchantman, and the 
Service is too strict for me ; so I think whaling- 
is perhaps my best refuge. It's a lazy sort of 
life, and if one chooses aright, he need suffer 
from very little except the inevitable blubber." 

Poor fellow, he was now growing old, and his 
gray hairs and rheumatism warned him to choose 
for himself an easy berth. So he had come down 
to "Bedford" with the hope of securing a place 
in some sperm whaler, as boatsteerer. 

His arrival was a most fortunate circumstance 
for me, as he was able to post me up in all the 
mysteries of shipping, as well as give me much 
necessary advice concerning the kind of voyage 
I ought to make choice of. Bill and I spent the 
day very agreeably together, and parted at 



30 WHALING AND FISHING. 

evening, with the determination to go in one ship, 
if possible. 

The presence of an old shipmate made my stay 
in New Bedford much pleasanter than it would 
otherwise have been. He introduced me to an 
outfitter who had promised to get him a ship, and 
who readily engaged, for a consideration, to per- 
form the same office for me. He informed us, 
however, that there was not the slightest hope 
that we two would be able to go in the same ves- 
sel; "for," said he, "no ship owner in Bedford 
would be so silly as to take two such old salts as 
you in his vessel." 

And here I may as well explain what is the 
particular office of the outfitters, in a whaling port. 
The seventy -five dollars advance, or outfit, which 
is supposed to be given to each individual who 
sails before the mast in a whaleship, is divided 
among three persons : First, the shipper, whose 
bill is for forwarding to JSTew Bedford, and his 
price for obtaining the new recruit a vessel ; next, 
the boarding house keeper, for boarding and 
lodging during his stay in town ; and thirdly the 
outfitter, for a complete stock of sea clothes, suf- 
ficient, were they of excellent quality (which 
they not unfrequently are), to last a careful man 
two years. In a place where so large a number 
of men are sent to sea annually, the business of 
fitting these out for their new life is, of course, 
one of considerable importance. The outfitters 



OUTFITTERS. 31 

give employment to a large part of the laboring 
community, in preparing the articles which they 
find most necessary to whalemen, and in turn 
pocket no small share of the earnings of almost 
every man that sails out of the port. Not only 
the new beginners do business with these men, 
but boatsteerers and mates procure their outfits 
of them, (of course of a superior quality), and 
they not unfrequently also make considerable 
advances of money to such individuals as they 
think trustworthy and sufficiently smart to make 
a good voyage. 

The New Bedford outfitters are faithfully abused 
by most who have sailed from that port in the 
capacity of greenhorns, and it is currently believed 
that their roguery knows no end. But as a class 
this rej)ort of them is far from correct. So far as 
I ever had any dealings with them, they seemed 
to be honest enough. But it must be confessed 
that many of the poor fellows who make their 
first voyage from here, offer most tempting induce- 
ments to traders, to cheat them. Their ignorance 
is so glaring, and their gullibility so vast, that I 
fancy it requires a stronger virtue than dealers in 
ready made clothing are commonly possessed of, 
to withstand these combined temptations. If, 
therefore, occasionally, or perhaps oftener than 
that, a greenhorn is sent to sea, with a rag-fair 
outfit, and finds his calico trowsers melting away 
before the salt water, his dog's hair shirts falling 



32 WHALING AND FISHING. 

to pieces, his boots made of brown paper, bis bat 
of tbe same material, slightly glazed, and his pea- 
jacket, "like Jack Straw's house, neither wind- 
tight nor water-tight," I opine that an impartial 
consideration of all the circumstances in the case 
would lead him to the opinion that himself was at 
least partly in fault. 

Old Bill and I enjoyed ourselves finely, for a 
few days, during which we visited nearly every 
ship in the harbor, took several jaunts to Fair- 
haven, a village directly opposite and across the 
river from 'New Bedford, where, also, numbers of 
fine whaleships are fitted out, and acquainted our- 
selves with the destination and general character 
of all the best looking vessels in both ports. 

On consideration, I had determined to engage 
on board a sperm whaler. By doing this I should 
escape the exposure to cold weather necessarily 
incident to the pursuit of the right whale, which 
is found in the higher latitudes, while the cachalot, 
or sperm whale, is sought for chiefly within the 
tropics. Moreover, all the right whalers at that 
time fitting out, were bound around Cape Horn, 
and thither I had already been. I finally settled 
on the Indian Ocean, and the Japan cruising 
ground, as the places I should most like to visit in 
a whaleship, and determined to look out for an 
opportunity to go in that direction. 

But although the work of fitting out vessels 
was going on unusually briskly, it seemed to me 



JOHNNY-COME-LATELY. 33 

that "chances to ship" were, as yet, few and far 
between. Occasionally, when we could learn that 
a captain or owner was about to ship hands, Bill 
and I would present ourselves with the crowd, 
and wait patiently to be chosen or left, as his 
high mightiness should see fit ; and I must own 
that to be left was invariably our fate. 

We rather enjoyed our stay, nevertheless, as we 
found much to amuse us, particularly in watching 
the maneuvers of the new hands. The salt air 
seems to have the effect of increasing their 
bumps of credulity to an almost incredible size, 
and they "hoist in", without difficulty, stories of 
whales, or of sea life and adventure, which would 
hardly do even to tell to the "marines," those old 
time receptacles for all that requires an unusual 
amount of faith in the believer. 

Most astonishing yarns of the freaks of whales 
were daily spun to admiring circles of the verdant 
ones, by mischievous boatsteerers, who became 
afterward, in the eyes of their unsophisticated 
listeners, wrapped about with such a halo of glory 
as is commonly awarded to none but the greatest 
heroes. Moreover, the most laughable tricks 
were continually played off upon the ignorance 
of the new-comers. "Johnny-come-lately," is the 
butt for everybody's j)ractical jokes, and some- 
times has his unlimited confidence in human 
nature severely shaken, by the conduct of his pre- 
tended friends. 



34 WHALING AND FISHING. 

Boarding a vessel on the Fairhaven side of the 
river one day, Bill and I were surprised to see 
upon the newly painted door of one of the cabin 
state-rooms, the words "Hezekiah Ellsprett's 
berth," written in tolerably conspicuous letters, 
with chalk. The following day the joke leaked 
out. It is usual, when a crew has been shipped, 
for them to hurry on board their vessel, and make 
choice of their sleeping berths, the earliest comers 
securing of course the most desirable places. 

It appeared that Hezekiah had gone on board 
his ship for the purpose of making choice of a 
berth, and after a deliberate scrutiny of the prem- 
ises, fore and aft, had arrived at the sage conclu- 
sion, that a certain state-room contained more of 
the elements of comfort, than any other place 
which had met his eye. He therefore determined, 
after weighing all chances, that he would make 
choice of this room, as his. 

It is but justice to say that a faint glimmer of 
doubt as to the tenabieness of his position did 
invade his cranium ; but on making inquiry of the 
ship-keeper, that worthy assured him that he had 
an indisputable right to choose whatever berth 
suited him best — and advised him for further se- 
curity to write his name upon the door, and place 
his bedding in the bunk or standing bed-place — 
which he immediately did. 

One can imagine the Captain's surprise, on com- 
ing on board next day, to find himself a trespasser 



OUTWITTING A SHIP OWNER. 35 

in his own domain. But words would fail to des- 
cribe the unaffected look of astonishment dis- 
played in Hezekiah's sapient countenance, when 
he was informed that that was " not his end of 
the ship." 

The tricks were not all played upon the new 
comers, however, as the manner in which my old 
friend Bill, shipped, sufficiently evinced. I had 
been in town nearly two weeks, when my worthy 
ship-mate met me one morning, and informed me 
that there was a chance that day, of which he in- 
tended to avail himself. A little barque, fitted for 
a short cruise in the South Atlantic, was about to 
ship hands, and in her, Bill had determined to se- 
cure a berth. Accordingly at ten o'clock, a. m., 
the hour previously specified, a large number of 
" hands " betook themselves to the office of the 
owner, located on one of the wharves. Here, at 
one end of a large room, on a raised platform, sat 
a portly, cross-looking gentleman, whose self- 
satisfied and important air sufficiently proclaimed 
that he was full well aware of the power he was 
that day to exercise, as well as of the importance 
of bringing all his perceptive faculties to bear up- 
on the matter in hand, in order that he might 
make a fortunate selection of men. There was 
that in the gentleman's eye which told plain as 
eye can tell, that he was not on this occasion to 
be taken in. 

Up to this worthy's chair of state my poor 
friend was ushered, by the shipping-master, who 



36 



WHALING AND FISHNG. 



had determined to secure him a berth that day — 
by hook or crook. 

"Is this the man you mentioned to me, Mr. 
Jones ? " asked the owner. 

" Yes sir, and a most excellent fellow you'll find 
him, sir — a good whale- 
man and a quiet fellow." 

" Please go out my man, 
please go out — you are too 
old a salt for me; I would' nt 
allow you to pay your pas- 
sage in a vessel of mine," 
was the owner's answer, 
after closely scrutinizing 
poor Bill for the space of 
two or three minutes. 

" Mr. Jones, I'm aston- 
ished that you can think 
of offering me such a man 
— why he's a regular mer- 
chant sailor, if my eye 
knows anything concern- 
ing the bearings of those 
vagabond fellows." 
Mr. Jones looked crestfallen ; seeing which, the 
owner added, " I promised to ship one of your 
men, and will keep a place vacant for one if you 
can bring me down somebody that will suit." 

A bright flash from Mr. Jones' eyes would 
have told a close observer that a fortunate idea had 
in part relieved him of his embarrassment. With 




A TRANSFORMATION 



37 



nimble steps lie hurried from the hall, and over- 
taking Bill and myself, on our way to the office, 
whispered something in the former's ear. 

"By the great hook-block. I'll do it," said Bill, 
after a moment's consideration, and catching my 
arm he rushed into a barber 
shop, closely followed by the 
shipper. 

c: Take off my whiskers as 
quick as you can. Yankee 
John," said Bill to the Por- 
tuguese barber, while ]\Ir. 
Jones added u and a good 
portion of his hair too, my 
man." In a very few minutes 
Bill's face was denuded of an 
enormous pair of whiskers. 
his long flowing locks were 
trimmed closely all round, 
and looking in the glass he 
swore he hardly knew him- 
self. 

■'•' Xow come up to the 
store." 

Arrived there, ^Ir. Jones produced a pair of pan- 
taloons of yellow and light blue crossbarred stuff, 
a shirt which had evidently already been in 
contact with whale oil, and one of those abomin- 
able hats, which, as Bill said, "would make old 
Jimmy Square-foot himself look like a green- 
horn." 




38 WHALING AND FISHING. 

After donning this suit, I was myself, almost 
tempted to doubt the identity of my shipmate. 

All the gay, careless swagger of the sailor was 
gone, and he looked as much like a veritable clod- 
hopper, as though this had been his first intro- 
duction to salt water. 

" Come along now — no time to lose," said Mr. 
Jones — and he and Bill hurried off to make an- 
other attempt upon the wide-awake owner; I re- 
maining at the store, for fear of compromising by 
my presence, the success of Bill's plans. 

Arrived at the office, they found nearly all the 
former crowd gone — and the owner sitting upon 
the platform, complacently looking over some 
accounts. 

" Ah, Mr. Jones, this is your man, I presume ? " 

"Yes, sir — I think you'll like him better." 

" He has not been at sea at all, I fear, Mr. 
Jones, and we wanted some one that would be of 
a little help." 

" He has made a short trip in a Provincetown 
whaling schooner, and I think captain May hew 
will find him a handy fellow — although to be sure 
he looks rather green." 

" How long were you out my man ? " 

" Six months, sir." 

"Do you drink?" 

"E"o sir." 

"Do you think you could strike a whale? 

"Yes sir, if they will give me a chance." 

" That's the talk ; chance you shall have. I'll 



BILL IS SHIPPED. 39 

ship you — give you a seaman's lay, and if there is 
a vacancy among the boatsteerers during the 
cruise, you shall have it, provided you are smart." 
Expressing himself highly satisfied with this, 
Bill signed his name to the articles — as Ezekiel 
Kickerson — and hastened from the presence of the 
shipper, who felt highly elated at securing so elig- 
ible an individual — little thinking that scarce 
half an hour before he had sent him from his 
office. Said Bill when he came back " so good a 
joke as that ought to be washed down with some 
brandy" — and accordingly he got tipsy in honor 
of the event. 



40 WHALING AND FISHING. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Sag Harbor Whaleman — Shipped at Last — Arrangement 
of a Whaleship's Decks— The Try Works— The Boats— The 
Lower Deck — Sailing Day — Our Crew — Sea-Sickness — Train- 

'* ing the Greenhorns — Labors of an Outward Bound Whale- 
man — Drudgery. 

It was on the third day after the shipment of 
my old friend, that my turn at length came. I 
had begun to despair of getting a ship — not hav- 
ing the resources at my command by which my 
friend had circumvented the owner; but the ship- 
pers desired me to wait some few days longer, as 
a chance would soon turn up. Accordingly, one 
morning I was desired to step down on board a 
Sag Harbor ship, which had just come up for the 
purpose of engaging a crew, and completing her 
outfit. 

I was the bearer of a note to the captain; who, 
having read it, looked at me a few moments, and 
then asked : 

"Have you ever been whaling?" 

"No sir." 

"How long have you been at sea?" 

I mentioned the number of years. 

" Do you intend to run away at the first port 
we make ?" 



THE LAY. 41 

I answered that such was not my intention at 
that time. 

"Well," said he, finally, "I think I'll ship you; 
I can give you the one hundred and twenty -fifth 
lay, which is a better lay than we generally give 
men, and if you behave yourself I'll take care 
that you are advanced as fast as you yourself can 
desire." 

Having declared my readiness to "sign the» 
articles" there and then, we stepped into the cabin, 
where the contract was ratified, and I engaged to 
go upon a voyage "to the Indian Ocean, and such 
other seas and oceans as the captain might see fit 
to visit, in pursuit of his business of taking whales," 
etc., etc.; the voyage to be not completed until 
the return of the ship to a regular port of dis- 
charge in the United States. 

Whalemen do not work for wages — but for a 
proportionate share in the proceeds of the com- 
mon voyage. This share is called each man's lay, 
and varies greatly, according as a hand is more 
or less active and experienced. Thus, while my. 
lay was the one hundred and twenty -fifth, (mean- 
ing that my share in the gross proceeds of the 
voyage was at the rate of one barrel in every one 
hundred and twenty -five), the lay of the green 
hands ranged from the one hundred and eighty- 
fifth to the two hundredth, giving them only at 
the rate of one barrel for every one hundred and 
eighty -five or two hundred. Boatsteerers, mates, 
and even captains, sail "on a lay;" receiving, as a 



42 WHALING AND FISHING. 

matter of course, shares proportionate to their 
experience and the importance of their duties. 

Having signed the articles, I received a note 
from the captain to the shipper, to that effect, and 
was informed that the ship would sail on the next 
day but one, and that it was desirable I should 
render myself and luggage on board on the even- 
ing previous. 

The first matter which claimed my attention 
after returning to the shore, was the procuring 
of an outfit of clothing and other necessaries for 
the voyage. As before mentioned, on shipping in 
a whaler each man receives credit from the 
owners, for an amount sufficient to provide him 
with a certain necessary quantity of clothing, and 
to pay the bills for board and shipper's charges, 
which he has contracted while waiting for the 
vessel. Of clothing I needed but little, as my 
chest was well supplied. I took, however, a plen- 
tiful supply of blue dungaree (cotton drilling) of 
which I designed to make up my own clothes for 
warm weather, when we should have gotten to 
sea. A number of pounds of chewing tobacco 
and half a bolt of coarse calico, to trade among 
the natives, completed the items on my outfitter's 
bill. 

This and other bills rendered, and signed by 
me, I betook myself on board, with chest and 
hammock, determined, as our voyage was to be a 
long one, to secure as good a berth as possible in 
the forecastle. This I succeeded in doing, being, 



A WHALER'S DECKS. 43 

with the exception of two men who had come in 
the vessel from Sag Harbor, the first on board. 

The forecastle was a large, roomy place, dis- 
playing the usual two tiers of berths on each side, 
and a locker at the bow, where could be stowed 
pots, pans, spoons, and other table utensils. The 
floor was encumbered with cleats, used by those 
who had last occupied the place, to fasten their 
chests. There was a disagreeable smell of train 
oil, and other sea abominations, pervading all — 
but to smells of this kind my olfactories had long 
been accustomed, and they were therefore of no 
consequence to me. 

After securing my berth, and lashing my chest 
in its place, I proceeded on deck to make a more 
minute examination of the vessel which was to 
be my home, in all probability, for some years. 
The decks of a whaleship are fitted up in a 
manner greatly different from those of a mer- 
chant vessel. Amidships, where the merchant- 
man stows his longboat and spare spars, are the 
try -works — a frame built up of brick, with two, 
and sometimes three, large iron pots placed in the 
middle, beneath which is the furnace or fireplace. 
Stout iron knees, bolted to the deck, keep this 
mass of brick and mortar in its place. Over all 
is a large wooden cover to keep out the rain. 

The deck is sheathed fore and aft with thin 
pine lumber, to save the main planks from injury 
which must otherwise be done them, by the cut- 
ting and hacking of blubber, and the rolling of 



44 WHALING AND PISHING. 

oil casks, incident to trying out and stowing 
down a whale. A portion of the starboard side, 
the waist, as it is technically called, is also thickly 
sheathed, as it is here that the blubber is taken 
in from the whale along side. The bulwark, or 
rail, at this portion of the side is moveable, and 
can be taken out entirely, which is done when 
" cutting in." 

On the starboard side a whaleship carries but 
one boat — the cranes for which are hung upon 
the quarter. As ours was a four boat ship, we 
had the remaining three upon the larboard side, 
occupying a space there from the quarter to the 
forerigging. It is a matter of much difficulty, at 
sea, while a vessel is under sail, to lower a stern 
boat, for which reason whalemen never carry a 
boat on stern-davits, as merchant vessels are 
accustomed to do. 

Two spare boats, stowed overhead, between the 
main and mizzen masts, and thus making a good 
shelter on the quarter deck during rainy weather, 
completed the fitting of the decks. 

Aloft our ship differed but little from most other 
vessels of her size — the little top-gallant-cross- 
trees, the stations for look-out men, being the only 
peculiarity which would bespeak her business to 
a sailor. 

The lower deck was divided off into : forecastle, 
where the crew live; forehold, a place where all 
spare rigging, hawsers, and cutting-in gear are 
stowed, as also spare lumber for repairing boats, 



A WHALESHIP'S HOLD. 45 

and a large assortment of spare oars, any vacant 
space left being filled with oil casks ; the blubber 
room, a large space, just below the main hatchway, 
into which the blanket pieces, just taken from the 
whale, are lowered, there to be cut up by the 
blubber -room men, into horse pieces; and lastly, 
the steerage — where the boatsteerers and cooper 
have their place of abode. 

The hold is filled with oil casks, most of the 
lower tier of which are at the commencement of 
the cruise filled with water, while in the upper 
tier are contained the bread, beef and provisions, 
as well as sails, dry goods for trade with the na- 
tives, and all ships stores whatever, everything 
being stowed away in casks to economise space, 
and get on board as many of the latter as possible. A 
forty gallon cask of Epsom salts — medicine for the 
sailors — figured conspicuously among the stores. 

It was on a fine morning in June, that we sailed. 
The crew had been all gathered on board the pre- 
ceding afternoon, and the vessel hauled into the 
lower bay, ready for a fair start ; and now having 
bidden good-by to all friends and acquaintances, 
we weighed anchor and set sail, taking a last, and 
I must confess, with me rather sorrowful look at 
the beauteous verdant shores of America, which 
we were now leaving for an absence of not less 
than three, and perhaps over four years. I was 
embarking on a voyage with the nature and du- 
ties of which I was but slightly acquainted, and 
although bound for a part of the world which I had 



46 WHALING AND FISHING. 

not before visited, and animated with all of a sailor's 
happy carelessness and desire for novelty, the 
thought that I had engaged myself for so long a 
time, troubled me. But " sufficient for the day is 
the evil thereof," is a maxim upon which the 
sailor, more than perhaps any one else, acts, 
throughout life, and in accordance therewith, I 
drove away the clouds gathering over my thoughts 
as I contemplated the blue hills, every moment 
growing paler in the distance, and enjoyed the 
glorious sunshine, and fresh, pure breeze of one 
of the finest days in summer. 

Our crew, now that one could see them all to- 
gether, formed a motley set. A four boat 
ship carries generally twenty -three or twenty -four 
hands, in the forecastle, a cooper, cook, four boat- 
steerers, ship -keeper, steward, three mates and cap- 
tain ; making in all thirty-six men. The captain, 
two mates, and three of the boatsteerers were 
Americans. The third mate, and one of the boat- 
steerers were Portuguese, natives of Fayal, as 
were also four of our crew. A great many of 
these Western Island Portuguese are found in 
American whaleships, where they are much liked, 
being very quiet, sober men, and generally good 
whalemen. The rest of the crew I find enumer- 
ated in my log, as follows : two lawyer's clerks, 
one professional gambler, one runaway from his 
father's counting house in New York, (this was 
also an amateur gambler) , one New York ' ' butcher- 
boy " — his name wasi/bse — six factory hands, from 



OUR CREW. 47 

some small New England towns, one Boston school 
boy, one canal -boat man, six farm boys — from 
various parts of New England, and western New 
York, — the four Portuguese before mentioned, who 
were whalemen, and the writer hereof, who wrote 
himself seaman. 

Of the four professional men, as they called 
themselves, all, including the gambler, were the 
possessors of a tolerable education, and a fair 
share of general information. As for the rest, 
leaving out the school boy, who knew everything, 
and was therefore unbearable, they were as 
wretchedly ignorant a set as ever I met. But one 
of the factory hands could read, with any degree 
of ease, and he was if anything, more stupid than 
his fellow laborers. As for the farmer boys — they 
possessed the latent elements of smartness, but 
were unfortunately so largely endued with cre- 
dulity as to be the victims of never-failing prac- 
tical jokes. 

We sailed with a fine and favoring top -gallant 
breeze, and long before night were well clear of 
the land, and making a straight wake for Fayal, 
which, to the great joy of our Portuguese ship- 
mates, was to be our first port. As the sun sank 
below the horizon, the breeze freshened and the 
swell increased, so that by the time the first watch 
commenced, at eight o'clock, the top-gallant sails 
were taken in — by the few hands who had been 
at sea before — the green hands wisely declining to 



48 WHALING AND FISHING. 

hazard so dangerous an undertaking as " going 
aloft in the dark." 

" Your time will come soon — only wait, my 
lads," said the mate. 

During the night we had what would have 
been for a merchant vessel a stiff top-gallant 
breeze. We were, however, reefed down, as a 
matter of prudence, not knowing how hard it 
might come on to blow, and having but few hands 
to depend upon. The green hands were upon 
their beam ends in all the horrors of seasickness, 
alternately vomiting, and praying for deliverance 
from what they imagined to be a most unprece- 
dented gale. All their bright anticipations of 
the pleasures of a sailor's life were vanished, and 
they wished for nothing so much as " home." 

But the night came to an end, as all nights must 
do, and the sun rising bright and glorious from 
the sea, scattered the storm-clouds, and made our 
verdant friends more cheerful. Wan and dis- 
spirited they came upon deck, and laid themselves 
down in the cheering sun, looking and feeling as 
though just recovered from a severe illness. 

It is notorious that seasickness is a weakness 
for which, as no one was ever known to die of it, 
no non -sufferer feels aught but contempt. Little 
of the pity and kindness, therefore, which they 
felt to be their due, did our sick men receive. A 
gruff " get out of the way, greeny," from the mate, 
as he stumbled over a form prostrate in the gang- 



THE WAY TO MAKE SAILORS. 49 

way — or a threat to send some of them aloft, 
" with a rope's end after them, to expedite them 
on their passage," made their misery com- 
plete. 

As the wind died away however, and the sea 
calmed down, they recovered to some extent, and 
made the best of their way down below again, 
where they almost without exception kept their 
berths for a couple of days, declaring that even to 
look up at the masts swinging about, with the 
motion of the ship, made them dizzy and deathly 
sick. 

"As for getting up there," said one, pointing to 
the masthead, and speaking with great earnest- 
ness, " that is entirely out of the question ; I am 
not fool enough to try it." 

With what dismay, therefore, did they hear, on 
the third day out, the word passed below, for all 
the green hands to come on deck, to practice run- 
ning up the rigging. With doleful groans, and 
dolorous countenances they most solemnly asserted 
the utter impossibility of such an undertaking on 
their part, and the certainty of their falling before 
they got six feet above deck. 

. " There's no such word as can't, at sea," was 
the mate's reply, as he apjDortioned them, a certain 
number to take each rigging, and then, making 
some show of a stout rope's end, ordered them to 
start. 

11 How far up must we go ? " asked one with great 
interest, evidently with the intention of putting 
4 



50 WHALING AND PISHING. 

off the evil hour, if only for a minute more, by 
asking questions. 

" Go ahead, I'll tell you when to stop." 

Paler than so many ghosts, they mount the 
rigging, now taking a step, then taking the 
shrouds in their close embrace, now glancing aloft, 
or around with looks of terror and dismay, anon 
looking piteously down at the mate, who, hard- 
hearted fellow, answers them with a " now then, 
are you fellows going to stick there?" 

"I'm afraid I shan't, sir," answered one, giving 
vent to a joke in his desperation. But a boat- 
steerer in each rigging, with a rope's end, soon 
started them on their upward journey, and having 
gotten up as high as the top, they were allowed 
to come down, a proceeding about which they 
went as circumspectly as though on every step 
depended a life. Great was their relief when they 
once more found themselves on deck. 

After a week of such practice, the greater por- 
tion of the crew were able to take their turn at 
the masthead to look out, doing but little good 
there however, as they were not yet fairly re- 
covered from their sickness. 

Three of our country boys remained seasick, 
until by dint of neither eating nor taking exer- 
cise, they were too weak any longer to come upon 
deck. They spent the days in watching the 
motions of the vessel, and the nights in groan- 
ing and bewailing their hard fate — continually 
wishing themselves back to the homes they had 



THE CAPTAIN IS ASKED FOR PIE. 51 

so gladly quitted. To one of these came one eve- 
ning a boatsteerer, and after condoling with him 
upon his miserable condition, asked him what he 
thought he would like best to eat just then. 

u The sight and smell of the food they have on 
the ship make me sick," was the answer. "If I 
only had some nice milk, and some pie, such as 
my mother used to make, I should be well very 
soon." 

" Pie ! " exclaimed the boatsteerer, " as I live, I 
am glad you mentioned the word. There's a 
whole cask of pies down below, which was sent 
aboard by the owner, on purpose for the sick 
ones." 

" Suppose I were to ask the captain to hoist it 
up, and give me some? " suggested the sick man, 
eagerly. 

" You could not do a better thing." 

" I'll go to him immediately — he seems to be a 
kind man and I will tell him how badly I feel." 
Accordingly he dragged himself slowly aft, and 
there meeting the captain, stated the case to him, 
and ended with a request that some of the pie 
might be given him, as he felt convinced that he 
would soon recover on such diet. 

The captain, smiling grimly, explained to him 
that some unfeeling wretch had been trifling 
with him, and that pie was an impossibilty at 
sea. 

Heartsick, poor Joe returned to his bunk; but at 
dinner, the cook brought him a small pie from 



52 WHALING AND FISHING. 

the captain's table, that worthy having taken pity 
on the poor fellow's deranged stomach and simple 
mind. 

Multitudes of such practical jokes are played 
off upon the uninitiated, and many a hearty laugh 
at their expense enlivens the first part of a whale- 
ship's cruise. Their faith is boundless, and there 
is scarcely anything too absurd or impossible for 
some of the more ignorant. Singularly enough, 
the young man who asked the captain to broach 
a cask of pies for his benefit, subsequently be- 
came one of the smartest of our hands. 

There is nothing the inexperienced on board find 
it so difficult to grow accustomed to as the differ- 
ence in rank, and consequent difference in physi- 
cal comforts, which prevail on ship board. Why 
the captain and his three mates should have more 
space allotted to them, than twenty sailors, or 
foremast hands ; or upon what principle of right 
or justice the officers shall dine upon delicacies, 
while foremast Jack soaks his hard biscuit in a 
decoction of oak leaves, sweetened with molasses, 
which goes by the name of tea; or how, under a 
republican flag, the captain can order them off 
the quarter deck, the pleasantest portion of the 
vessel, and point to the wretched hole forward 
of the windlass, as their appropriate " sphere " — all 
this, and much else, the unsophisticated country- 
man, brought up in the belief that " one man is as 
good as another," can never proj)erly understand, 
although he is obliged to submit. 



TRAINING THE NEW HANDS. 53 

As one of our -professional men" said one day, 
in arguing upon the justice of such conduct — -It 
is not Democratic." 

But to submit — to obey orders, instantly and 
unthinkingly — is one of the first principles incul- 
cated into the embryo sailor, here as well as in 
other classes of vessels. It is the great secret of 
success in all maneuvers at sea. and perfection in 
the training it imparts is especially necessary on a 
whaling cruise, where, in sudden emergencies, it 
is often required that the mind of one man should 
have perfect control over the will and strength of 
many. 

Meantime the training went on : the daily prac- 
tice of running aloft, speedily making even those 
who were at first most timid, laugh at their former 
fears. Eut now another difficulty was to be gotten 
over : The names of the various portions of the 
rigging were to be learned. This seemed one of 
the most insurmountable obstacles to the acquisi- 
tion of sailorship. 

Landsmen persistently adhere to a literal inter- 
pretation of the names given to various parts of a 
ship's rigging and masts. Thus by top they 
understand the mast head, whereas it is a place 
not half so high. They look for a head, and find 
only a few rough boards; they are told of stays and 
see only great ropes ; they hear of yards but find 
them pendant from aloft, "like the hanging gardens 
of Semiramis," said our school-boy. 



54 WHALING AND FISHING. 

It must not be supposed, however, that to famil- 
iarize themselves with the ropes and practice 
running aloft were the only employments of the 
hands. On the second day after leaving port, the 
regular routine of labor of an outward bound 
whaleman was begun. All hands were kept at 
work, hard and incessantly, for the first five 
months, preparing the vessel for the whaling 
ground. It is a rule in the whaling service to have 
no work of any kind, other than is absolutely 
necessary, going on while the vessel is upon the 
whaling ground. All is therefore prepared before- 
hand, on the outward passage. 

With us the entire rigging was overhauled and 
refitted; the hold in part restowed; boats fitted with 
all the conveniences which experience has taught 
the whaleman to provide; irons and lances sharp- 
ened and set in their handles, lines stretched and 
coiled down; line tubs nicely fitted; lance and iron 
sheaths carved or put together, mats for rowlocks 
made, and all the thousand other small matters 
attended to, which go to make up the outfit of a 
whaleship and her boats. These labors employed 
the crew from daylight till dark, six days in the 
week, and right glad were we when the tall Peak 
of Pico hove in sight, and amid the excitement of 
nearing the land, the severe and constant drudg- 
ery of refitting was for a few days laid aside. 

By this time — we had a three weeks passage 
thither — our green hands were, in their own estima- 



GREEN HANDS. 55 

tion grown to be staunch and fearless sailors : they 
could swear horribly; they chewed tobacco, to a 
man; they talked loudly of their powers to with- 
stand the effects of liquor — to have listened to 
them, one would have thought each one of them 
had been bred and born in a grog-shop. They 
could, to be sure, tell no tough yarns of their past 
experience, but they made up abundantly for this 
by their boastings of what they contemplated in 
the future. In short, they were all — with two 
honorable exceptions — a most disgusting set : who 
thought that in coming on board ship, as they re- 
lieved themselves in a great measure from the 
restraints of civilized life, they were warranted in 
launching out into every vice that brutalizes man. 



56 WHALING AND FISHING. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Land Ho! — Fayal — Anxiety of all hands to get ashore — Por- 
tuguese — Their resignation — Fruit — We continue the voy- 
age — Fitting the vessel for her cruise — Drilling the crew 
in the boats — The line — Chasing Blackfish — Provisions — 
Cooks. 

At length the summits of the Azores heaved 
out of the water, in the blue distance. Land ho! 
was a cry joyful to all, but particularly to those 
who were now making their first trip. I do not 
know of a more pleasing sensation than that which 
animates one on for the first time beholding a 
strange coast — supposing that coast to be invested 
with some interest in the mind of the beholder, 
and that it is seen in fine weather. Both these 
conditions were fulfilled in the present case. 

Our Portuguese shipmates had for the past week 
spoken of scarcely anything else but Fayal, the 
Peak of Pico, and the various islands which com- 
pose the group called the Azores; praising above 
all, the fruitfulness of the soil, the genial cli- 
mate, and the quiet innocence of the people. The 
weather was lovely, and as the blue summit of 
Pico showed itself in the hazy distance, while a 
light breeze rippled over the smooth sea and 
urged our vessel landward, all were for a while 



THB LAND. 57 

subdued, and entered heart and spirit into the 
peaceful scene. 

It was midday when we raised the land. On 
'•turning out" next morning, we found our ship 
lying becalmed in front of the vast Peak of Pico, 
which, at a distance of some ten or twelve miles, 
seemed almost overhanging the vessel. All was 
now bustle and preparation. The Portuguese, usu- 
ally so taciturn, were excited beyond all measure; 
and as under the pressure of a gentle breeze we 
neared the land, they eagerly pointed out to each 
other, and to the crew, various objects, familiar to 
them, tlie scenes of former labors or pleasures. 

And when at last, about four o'clock in the af- 
ternoon, we dropped anchor in the bay, the Port- 
uguese boatmen who shortly came on board, were 
hailed and shaken hands with *as old familiar 
friends, although they had probably never before 
been known to our men. 

It is a very agreeable thing to make land, under 
almost any circumstances. The tedious and mo- 
notonous life of a sea-voyage is pleasantly broken 
in upon — and aside from the satisfaction felt by 
all on board at knowing that so much of the ob- 
ject of the vOyage has been accomplished, every 
mind revels, in anticipation, in the pleasures and 
diversions of the shore. On such occasions old 
quarrels are amicably arranged, and new friend- 
ships are formed ; all hearts open unconsciously; 
and while gazing with eager longing at the blue 
mountain tops in the distance, you suddenly ar- 



58 WHALING AND FISHING. 

rive at the conclusion that the individual standing 
beside you is a first rate fellow — all previous pre- 
judices to the contrary notwithstanding. 

Of course, our crew hoped to have a run on 
shore. I never sailed into a port in my life, that 
the crew, or a portion of them, at any rate, had 
not prepared their minds for a day's liberty. How 
often and bitterly have I myself been deceived and 
disappointed ! This time, however, I knew better 
than to expect " liberty " for any one. We had no 
oil to land, nor, in fact, any business in port, ex- 
cept to procure some ten or fifteen thousand oran- 
ges, and a quantity of other fruit, with a few sweet 
potatoes. "We should not have anchored at all, had 
it not been that the captain had a relative on 
shore, with whom he desired to spend an evening 
in quiet, and without anxiety. 

Bitter lamentations at their hard fate succeeded 
the announcement to the green hands, of the im- 
possibility of their getting on shore ; they could 
scarcely believe that the captain could refuse them 
such a favor; and that night sundry schemes were 
laid for running off from the vessel, and thus grat- 
ifying their wishes without the consent of the 
captain, whom they regarded as a cruel monster. 
These were, however, the veriest air castles, which 
crumbled from view at the slightest touch of 
practical common sense. 

" Suppose you greenhorns run away — what will 
you do when you get ashore — you are no sailors 
— no captain would ship you. You can't get work 



SAILORS. 59 

ashore, for the poor people can't get bread for all 
that are already on the island'' — was the discour- 
aging remark of a boatsteerer who had been taken 
into their confidence ; and so the idea of running 
away was abandoned. 

As for myself — I had long since become hard- 
ened to such disappointments, and although just 
as eager to have a run ashore as any one, was able 
to philosophize on the disappointment of our 
hopes. I think the life of a man before the mast 
is calculated to make a stoic of any one. In no 
other condition that I know of, are all the hopes, 
aims and desires of one man placed so completely 
in the keeping of another — whose interests fur- 
thermore almost invariably clash with those of his 
subject. ]S"o where else are the keenest desires so 
invariably doomed to disappointment — in no other 
situation is one obliged, for peace of mind sake, to 
become so utterly apathetic. The fact is, sailors 
should be brutes — not men. 

By our poor Portuguese the compulsory stay on 
board was doubtless more keenly felt than by any 
others. It was their fatherland — and to their 
credit I must say that I found them invariably to 
cherish a strong love for it, poor and rude though 
it may be. But after the first excitement of see- 
ing and speaking to the people in the shore-boats, 
was over, they settled down into a calm, desponding 
sort of enjoyment, and in the dogwatch gathered 
into a little knot upon the top-gallant forecastle, 
and gazing upon the loved shore, talked of home, 



60 WHALING AND FISHING. 

of the happy days they had there enjoyed, and 
of their present prospects, and hopes of some day 
being able to settle down in comfort there, with 
the frnits of their hard labors. 

A great many Western Island Portuguese find 
employment in American whalemen; almost every 
vessel sailing from New Bedford carrying more or 
less of them. They are a quiet, peaceful, inoffen- 
sive people, sober and industrious, penurious, al- 
most to a fault, and I believe, invariably excellent 
whalemen. They are held in great esteem by 
ship owners and captains, but are often despised 
by their shipmates in the forecastle, who seeing 
them of such different habits to their own, choose 
to decry them as sneaks, and tale-bearers. 

I found them quite the reverse ; and with one or 
two exceptions, those with us were the only indi- 
viduals of the crew with whom I could associate 
with any degree of pleasure. Brought up in the 
most abject poverty, it is natural that they should 
be saving — and refuse to waste their hard earned 
money for trifles or in dissipation, as is the fashion 
with sailors in general. 

They have moreover an object in life, which is 
never lost sight of in all their wanderings and 
toils. It is their hope some day to be able to set- 
tle down on their native islands, among their 
friends and kindred, and with the savings of years 
of hard labor, to spend their latter years in peace- 
ful retirement. Very many, I have been inform- 
ed, have lived to realize this day-dream, and 



DIVIDING THE SPOILS. 61 

taking the few hundreds of dollars, which is the 
sum of their savings, have returned to live at ease 
in the home of their youth. It is not possible 
that men who cherish such recollections, and en- 
ter on life with such hopes and determinations, 
should fall to the depths of depravity and vice in 
which whalemen generally lose themselves. 

Early on the morning succeeding our arrival in 
port, several large boatloads of fruit, with some 
potatoes, and half a dozen razor-backed pigs were 
brought along side and taken on board. Im- 
mediately thereafter we once more got under 
weigh, and departed on our long voyage. When 
the anchor was stowed and all snug for sea, the 
oranges which had been brought on board were 
divided among the crew, each one receiving a 
share to take care of, and eat as he saw fit. This 
is the usual manner of proceeding in such cases, 
on board a whaleship, and prevents all after 
quarrels, inasmuch as each one can make as much 
of his hoard as he pleases. 

My share amounted to nearly three hundred. 
They lasted three weeks, and it was with an anx- 
ious desire for more that I put the last and juciest 
one to my lips — well knowing that many months 
would, in all probability, elapse before we should 
be favored with another run into port. 

Once more at sea, the old wearisome drudgery 
recommenced. Here a patch and there a mat, in 
one place a new rope, in another an old one refit- 
ted, tarring and slushing, scraping and scrubbing, 



62 WHALING AND FISHING. 

day after day proceeded the labor of fitting the 
vessel's rigging, sails and deck for the endurance 
of a long season of neglect. Meanwhile we were 
keeping a stricter lookout for whales, hopeful that 
we might at this early part of our cruise fall in 
with and capture some "good fish." 

All the crew were now to some degree broken 
in to the sealife, and pretty soon the new hands 
began to claim for themselves great credit on 
the score of seamanship. With infinite pains 
they had been taught a few of the many splices, 
knots, and ties which all old tars have at their 
fingers' ends. With doleful groans they had prac- 
ticed running aloft, until the first emotions of fear 
and dizziness had worn off. By dint of steady per- 
severance they were now able to chew tobacco 
without being nauseated, and to spit about the decks 
without feeling that they were committing a dirty 
trick. As for swearing, I must own that that 
accomplishment they seemed to master without 
any apparent effort. They could hitch up their 
suspenderless trowsers, and cock their hats on 
"three hairs," in a manner faintly resembling that 
supposed to be peculiar to the genuine tar : and so 
they called themselves sailors. They had arrived 
at the summit of their tree of knowledge, and did 
not fail to congratulate themselves upon the pros- 
pect stretching out before them. 

Alas! they had one more mortification to un- 
dergo — one more difficulty to overcome, — yet an- 
other branch of the business to familiarize them- 



IN THE BOATS. 63 

selves with, before they would be even whalemen 
— and what old salt does not know that there is 
as much difference between a whaleman and a 
true sailor, as there is between a child's tin trum- 
pet and the bugle which calls to battle. 

To tell the truth, I, in virtue of being a real, 
genuine tar, despised these fellows from the bottom 
of my heart; and it must be owned, they hated 
me with a fervor which was only equaled by its 
powerlessness. 

But to return to my story. We were three days 
out from Fayal, and had by the aid of a favorable 
breeze, left the lofty Peak of Pico many miles be- 
hind us, when coming upon deck one morning, we 
found a dead calm, a tolerably smooth sea, and a 
thin hazy atmosphere, which, to the old whalemen 
aft, looked like whaling ground. Shortly after 
breakfast word was passed to man the boats, to 
take some practice in pulling and maneuvering, 
in order that our crew might not be entirely un- 
prepared, should we be so fortunate as to fall in 
with whales. 

The various boats-crews had been chosen when 
we were but a few days out at sea, and each indi- 
vidual had received some general instructions as 
to his particular duties. 

And here it will be as well to initiate the reader 
into the manner in which a boat's crew is divided, 
and what is each one's duty. Each boat is manned 
by six hands in all; of these the officer or boat-header 
as he is styled, and the boatsteerer, or harpooneers- 



64 WHALING AND FISHING. 

man are two. The four men at the oars are called, 
beginning at the bow, the bow-oarsman, midship- 
oarsman, tub-oarsman, and stroke-oarsman. 

It is the duty of the first named, aside from his 
labor at the oar, to assist the boat-header in getting 
out his lances, when about to kill the whale. He 
takes them out of their beckets, takes off and stows 
away the sheaths which envelope the lance-heads, 
and when hauling on the whale to lance, his par- 
ticular office is to hold the line at special places on 
the bow, to keep the boat in a convenient situation 
to reach the whale. As being nearest to the scene of 
operations, and the boat-header's right hand man, 
the bow-oarsman's place is considered one of spec- 
ial honor, and he is first on the list for promotion. 

The midship-oarsman is chosen with especial 
regard to his length of limb and stoutness of mus- 
cle, as he wields the longest and toughest oar in 
the boat. The tub-oarsman throws water upon 
the line when the whale is sounding rapidly, to 
prevent it from igniting from the violent friction ; 
while the man at the stroke oar, as the name 
denotes, gives stroke to the rest in pulling, and is 
also of material service to the boat-steerer in keep- 
ing clear the line, and coiling it down as it is haul- 
ed in. 

The names of the officers are scarcely expres- 
sive, at least to a landsman, of their duties. The 
two most important operations, and those requir- 
ing most skill in their execution, in capturing a 
whale, are those of "going on to him" to harpoon, 



DUTIES OF THE BOAT'S CREW. 65 

and killing him, when once fast. Of course the 
boat-heacler takes the most responsible positions 
in these maneuvers; and consequently he steers 
the boat till the whale is harpooned — which office 
is performed by the boat-steerer. Immediately 
thereafter the two change places, the boat-header 
taking charge of the bow, to give the whale the 
death blow. 

It is a very unfrequent occurrence, to kill a 
whale at the first blow, with the harpoon. "Whales 
are so easily "gallied" or frightened, that it is con- 
sidered an object to get a harpoon solidly fastened 
in almost any place, the lance being always count- 
ed on to deal out death to him. 

I may add here that I had been chosen bow- 
oarsman for the chief mate's boat, an honor where- 
at I was not a little elated, the more particularly as 
I had never before made a whaling cruise, and was 
therefore entirely inexperienced. 

"Well, we lowered the boats. All was of course, 
bustle and confusion. Many of the crew had never 
in their lives been in a boat; and those who had, evi- 
dently viewed the long, narrow, shallow, and slen- 
der boats used for whaling, as exceedingly suspi- 
cious contrivances, very little to be depended upon. 

It being a calm day, the crews were directed to 
"follow the boat down" — that is to say, to slide 
down by the side of the vessel, abreast of their 
respective boats, in readiness to jump in as soon 
as the boats touched the water. In endeavoring 
to jump into his boat — the ship just at that mo- 
5 



66 WHALING AND PISHING. 

ment giving an unexpected lurch — one of our awk- 
ward squad dropped into the water, coming up 
puffing and blowing, some distance astern, to the 
intense amusement of all lookers on. 

But this was only the beginning of the day's 
sport. Although the sea wore a smooth surface, 
there was sufficient of a ground swell to make the 
use of oars, a matter of some difficulty to those 
who for the first time held them in their hands. 
Having gotten the four boats in a line, the mate 
proposed a race; and at the word, we started. 
Eacing, however, was soon found to be out of the 
question. The first thing to be taught the green- 
hands, was to keep stroke — to place their oars in 
the water all at the same time, and lift them out 
again with one motion. 

The necessity for this being perfectly under- 
stood, we tried again. But-now our fellows began 
to " catch crabs." As the swell would lift the 
boat, those not paying strict attention would fail 
to reach the water with the blades of their oars ; 
and not meeting with the resistance upon which 
they had counted, would incontinently tumble over 
on their backs, heels high in mid-air, heads under 
the seats, and oars dangling about pretty much at 
random. However, after a goodly number of mis- 
haps of this kind, all our <^wn boat's crew 
arrived at a proper understanding of the first 
principles of pulling, or "rowing," as landsmen 
would say, and after two or perhaps, three days 
trial and practice,we could propel our boat at good 



BLACK-FISH. 67 

speed. Eventually my shipmates made most excel- 
lent oarsmen, and won themselves laurels in several 
contests of speed with crews much more expe- 
rienced than ours. 

"We were favored with an almost continual suc- 
cession of fair breezes, till we neared the line, 
where the customary calms and light winds gave 
us occasion for a little more working ship than we 
had until then, been used to. A strict look out 
was continually kept, but no spouts greeted the 
wearied eyes of our look-out men. 

On the line, however, one Sabbath morning, a 
school of black-fish passed quite near the vessel, and 
of course we lowered for them, but few whalemen 
observing the Sabbath when whales are in ques- 
tion. Black-fish are a small species of whale, 
tolerably hard to catch, as they have none of the 
regularity of movement which is characteristic of 
their huger cousins, the sperm and right whales. 
They make but little oil when caught — but to a 
whaleman all is fish that spouts. 

The fish were themselves evidently in high 
spirits, running about in every direction, breach- 
ing, making the water fly with their flukes, and 
acting out all manner of queer antics. None of the 
caution and silence usually observed on lowering 
after sperm whales was therefore necessary, and 
previously instructed as to the nature of the 
business we were upon, and that it was to be con- 
sidered more in the light of sport, than as a serious 



68 WHALING AND FISHING. 

grasp at wealth, we tumbled into the boats, laugh- 
ing and shouting in high glee. 

Four hours of hard pulling, now backing, now 
laying quickly round, and again bending to our 
oars with all our strength, always within a boat's 
length or two, but never within dart of the mis- 
chievous fish, convinced us that although doubt- 
less it is high sport to the black-fish, it is 
anything but fun to those whose bone and sinew is 
brought in requisition in a fruitless chase of them. 

Now the whole school were right ahead of the 
boats, and it was "pull boys, and we'll strike one 
this rising." But just before we got within dart- 
ing distance, when even the iron was already 
poised in the boatsteerer's hands, ready to "give 
it to him," the provoking fellows would toss their 
heads and disappear from view beneath the water. 

Lying still a moment, we would hear a puff im- 
mediately behind us, and lo ! there they lay, at 
heads and points, like a lot of overgrown pickled 
herring, and apparently with no idea of quitting 
that place for some time. 

" Pull starboard — back your port oars!" shouts 
the mate, in the greatest excitement, as with a 
few vast sweeps of his steering oar he lays the 
boat round. With half a dozen vigorous strokes 
we send the boat right to the spot whence they 
have but that moment disappeared. The next we 
see of them may be at the distance of half a mile, 
and off we scour, after them, each boat's crew 



WHAT WHALEMEN EAT. 69 

eager to be first at the scene of operations, but all 
too late, for after sticking their ugly heads out of 
the water for some time, as though too lazy to 
float in the usual horizontal position, they are off 
again. 

i Four hours of such sport prepared us to enjoy a 
much more substantial and elegantly prepared 
repast than awaited us when wearied and disap- 
pointed, we returned on board. 

And this brings me to the consideration of that 
portion of life, which I have noticed seems on 
ship-board to be considered the main and most 
important part of existence, namely, eating. What 
to eat, must be a matter of much thought with 
men who have nothing but the regularly recurr- 
ing meal times to break the dreary monotony of 
every day life. 

Men long for excitement ; and as idlers on shore 
discuss the news of the day, and settle the des- 
tinies of nations after their own ideas of justice 
and policy — so do ship captains and mates take 
into serious consideration the fate of certain 
chickens, ducks, and pigs, and enter into long- 
winded discussions as to the proper time and best 
method of preparing these animals for the table, 
while forecastle Jack growls at the cook about the 
ill -prepared bean soup and the raw duff, the moldy 
rice, or half-cooked beef which is set before him. 

The provisions for the forecastle in a whaleship, 
differ but very little in kfyd from those of a man- 
of-war, yet there is no regular allowance, a suf- 



70 WHALING AND FISHING. 

ficiency to satisfy the appetites of all being at all 
times furnished. In several matters, however, 
whaleships are better provided than either the 
naval or merchant service. 

In the first place, as on such long voyages, 
where, too, the vessel is for many months at a time 
cruising about at sea, men are very liable to attacks 
of scurvy, captains and owners take care to have 
constantly, so long as they can be procured, a 
plentiful supply of potatoes — a luxury which is 
unknown in the navy, and not always found in 
the merchant service. Again, as everything is 
tightly stowed away in large, well made casks, 
provisions of all kinds are much better preserved 
than on any other voyages. This is particularly 
the case with the bread or biscuit, which will be 
found of excellent quality in a whaleship three or 
four years from home, while in a naval vessel it is 
often worm-eaten worthless trash when but a few 
months out. 

But if the provisions are good, the cooks are as 
a general thing execrable — realizing the old pro- 
verb, which ascribes a totally opposite origin to 
the victuals and those who prepare them. Our 
cook was a negro, whose only virtue was cleanli- 
ness. His cooking stove was always bright and 
polished, and the copper-sheathed floor of his 
galley served excellently as a mirror, wherein his 
shining black face was reflected in a hundred 
different attitudes and contortions. He changed 
his linen much oftener than the captain, and 



THE CO OK. 71 

devoted more time to the straightening out of 
his kinky locks than the veriest city dandy. 
He was a full bred exquisite, and withal a very 
Hercules in strength and agility. As a man he 
was respectable — as a cook abominable. His bean 
soup was an abortion — his rice, a tasteless jelly, 
and the duff — that potent breeder of heart-burns, 
indigestion, and dyspepsia, even in the iron bound 
stomach of a sailor — reached under his hands the 
very acme of indigestibility. 

Happily it is one of the rules peculiar to the 
culinary department of a whaleship, that whoever 
will arrange a private meal for himself is allowed 
space in the oven to cook it. So when matters 
came to extremes, and even my sea-appetite rebel- 
led at the unsavory morsels brought up in regular 
course of cookery, I was used to prepare a dinner 
or a supper for myself, which although not much 
superior in point of artistic culinary arrangement, 
was yet digestible. 



72 WHALING AND FISHING 






CHAPTER V. 

Sabbath — Our Captain's whaling experience — Land ho! — The 
Scene of a battle — Tristan d'Acunha— The story of its 
settlement— Governor Glass — The internal economy of the 
settlement — Intercourse with shipping — General appearance 
of the island — A wreck — An exciting race — Madagascar or 
Malaga ? 

Desiring to procure a large supply of potatoes 
for our whaling cruise, the captain had determined 
to make a day's stay at the Island of Tristan 
d'Acunha, a place seldom visited except by whale- 
ships in want of stores, and one which I had long 
desired to see. 

Meantime we were still engaged in refitting 
the vessel, and had now gotten so far along that 
we could see the end of our labors. It is customary 
in the merchant service, even in the worst of ships, 
to allow the men who have had two watches on 
deck the preceding night, to rest during the 
watch from eight to twelve A. m. On board our 
vessel however, it was an object to get all the 
work finished up before we got uj)on whaling 
ground, and therefore all hands were compelled 
to work all day — that is, from eight A. m. to six 
p. m. — in addition to keeping regular watches all 



A SABBATH DAY'S WORK. 73 

night. Those who grumbled at this arrangement, 
among whom I was conspicuous, received for 
consolation the information that once upon the 
whaling ground, no work whatever, not absolutely 
necessaiy, would be required. 

After living amid tar, slush and dirt all the 
week, Saturday night — when the decks were 
washed down, and all work put out of sight — and 
Sabbath, were seasons of peculiar enjoyment to all, 
and to none more than myself, who then had a 
little time for reading, from which I was debarred 
during working days. 

Sunday was with us, at this time, a day for 
general shaving, washing, and scrubbing. Salt 
water is too "hard" to wash in with comfort, and 
in consideration of our labors during the week, 
we were on Saturday night indulged in two quarts 
of fresh water per man, with the aid of which we 
succeeded pretty well in removing the stains of 
the past week. 

Mending, too, was in order on the Sabbath. The 
■Portuguese among our crew had been wise enough 
to choose their own outfit. I had needed but little 
clothing, but had taken some light drilling in- 
stead, to make up for myself shirts and trowsers, 
an art in which I was by this time quite a pro- 
ficient. The new hands had taken whatever the 
outfitters had chosen to say they needed, and some 
of them had been woefully cheated. 

"Woollen shirts which, after the first washing, 
one could pull to pieces — as though made of tow — 



74 WHALING AND FISHNG. 

and. cotton trowsers which blew apart as they 
hung in the rigging to dry, such was, with three 
or four exceptions, the quality of their supply of 
clothing for a four years cruise. Some there were, 
however, who had fallen into better hands, and 
these had received the worth of their money in 
good substantial clothing. 

Green hands often prefer while yet in port, to 
deal with the very men who afterward cheat 
them so outrageously — for the reason that these 
will, in most cases, advance them small sums of 
money during their stay on shore, to be charged 
as clothing in the bill, while the honest dealer 
ignores all such transactions. Thus the inexpe- 
rienced and unthinking often for the sake of a 
little indulgence on shore, sacrifice their comfort 
during the greater part of a cruise. 

It is not expected however, that the clothing 
obtained of the outfitters shall last the crew the 
entire cruise. And as clothing stores are not 
known in the vicinity of many of the whaling 
grounds, the captains are provided by the owner 
with a "slop-chest," furnished with all articles 
which are likely to be wanted for the particular 
voyage upon which the vessel is bound. These slop- 
chests were in former times the perquisites of the 
captains, and they often made immense profits upon 
their investments; from two to three hundred per 
cent being considered only an average return. 
Many complaints were made about this system of 
extortion, by which, as one of our boatsteerers 



PATCH UPON PATCH. 75 

shrewdly observed, a man was compelled. " either 
to be skinned or go naked ; " and the matter is 
now almost altogether taken out of the hands of 
the captains. The owners affix a price to each 
article in the chest, and at that it is sold to the 
needy. Yet these prices are sufficiently high, four 
years interest and something additional for ne- 
cessary loss being charged upon the cost price of 
each article, on such a voyage as that we were 
upon; making in all about thirty per cent. 

Fashion, I believe, generally takes its rise either 
in the desire to conceal a deformity, or in the ne- 
cessities of the tailor. Among whalemen, who 
perform all tailoring operations for themselves, 
necessity has brought in vogue a fashion called 
11 patch upon patch, and a patch over all;" and to 
such an extent does this prevail that it is said 
among sailors "you may know a whaleman by his 
patched shirt." 

A man has two shirts, both nearly worn out. 
He puts one inside the other, and quilts both to- 
gether with woollen yarn, then places additional 
patches over the spots which yet appear frail, and 
congratulates himself upon the possession of a 
shirt which will last him, with care, for the bal- 
ance of his natural life. 

The Sabbath is a day of uninterrupted rest, 
previous to the arrival of the vessel upon her 
destined cruising ground. And on such days, 
when the weather is fair, all hands, with smooth 
faces and clean shirts, bring on deck their clothes 



76 WHALING AND FISHING. 

to air them, while such as have them, look over 
letters, and tokens from the " folks at home," and 
luxuriate in the remembrance of past joys and 
pleasures. Two of our mates were engaged to be 
married on their return from the voyage we were 
now upon, and these poor fellows used on pleasant 
Sabbaths, to bring on deck the miniatures of their 
sweethearts at home. Looking at them, they read 
over their letters, and, carefully unwrapping them 
from multitudinous envelopes, gloated over such 
little love-tokens as they had received on their 
departure. 

The captain and chief mate were both married 
men. The former was a quiet, sad looking gentle- 
manly man, much better fitted for the shore, than 
for the rough life of exposure and privation in 
which his lot had been cast. He had sailed in the 
merchant service in his youth, and from this cir- 
cumstance, I, who was a "merchant sailor," was 
quite a favorite with him. 

On one quiet genial Sabbath day, when we had 
been nearly three months from home, I was stand- 
ing at the helm, with eyes half closed, little mind- 
ing the ship, which was lazily swinging upon the 
swell, the breeze being scarcely sufficient to give 
her steerage way. The captain was lying upon a 
mattrass, near the tafirail, reading. Presently, 
closing the book, he asked me how I thought I 
should like whaling. "Not having as yet had any 
practical trial of the business, I could not give 
him a definite answer. 



THE CAPTAIN'S WHALING E XPE RIE N CE . 77 

" It's a wretched business," said the old man, 
seriously — " a wretched business. I suffer more 
and more every cruise I make. When I was yet 
a young man, the matter appeared to me in a 
different light; but as I grow old, my desire to 
stay at home with my family increases, and it 
seems like tearing one's heartstrings to depart on 
a cruise with the probability of being gone four 
long years. 

" I have been five voyages," he continued, after 
a pause. " One of these lasted forty-nine months, 
during which time, I heard from home but once. 
In fifteen years of my whaling life, I have 
spent just seventeen months at home. I have 
never been present at a birth or death in my 
family. I can never expect more than two or 
three letters from home in the course of a thirty- 
six or forty-eight months cruise. And when I 
now look back upon the life I have lived — and 
consider how few and brief have been my enjoy- 
ments, and how little I have been able to con- 
tribute to the happiness of my family, — if it were 
not for my belief that it will be all right in 
heaven " — said the old man earnestly — " I should 
not have the courage to live." 

" But, sir," remarked the second mate, who had 
been, with me, a listener to the captain's words, 
" I find that I enjoy myself more in the few 
months I remain on shore, after my return from 
a voyage, than I could in all the three or four 
years, had I remained on shore altogether. The 



78 WHALING AND FISHING. 

long absence gives a zest to the enjoyment of 
home pleasures, which nothing else could impart 
to them." 

Here were two opinions — one that of hopeful 
youth, looking forward to a "bright future — the 
other that of mature age, already grasping the 
future still anticipated by the first. i 

" Put up your helm a little, Charley, the sails 
are shaking in the wind," said the captain, put- 
ting an end to the conversation, and rousing me 
from a very unsailorlike revery on the vanity of 
all sublunary affairs. 

I must own I sided with the captain. His pic- 
ture was a sober, sad reality. It was the review 
of a life spent to but little purpose — of energies 
wasted, purposes defeated, and bright hopes with- 
ered. His little yarn gave me the first twinge of 
home-sickness I had felt for many a year. I 
thought of the loved ones at home, of the seven 
long years in which I had not heard from them, 
and of the apparently small hope of my ever re- 
turning thither, to sit down in peace and quietness. 

In short, I was getting " blue," blue as the azure 
sky overhead, but not near so cheerful, when the 
ever -joyful cry of u Land, ho!" from the mast- 
head, happily brought my -wandering thoughts 
back to the present, and dispelled the gloomy fan- 
cies which were beginning to crowd my brain. 

To think is not part of the regular business of a 
sailor ; and to be afflicted with thoughts beyond 
the mere present, must ever be to him a source of 



TRISTAN D'ACUNHA. 79 

unhappiness. It is to drown troublesome thoughts 
that Jack flies to the inebriating cup, and plunges 
madly into the lowest dissipation. 

The land, which seemed as yet but a dark blue 
speck on the horizon, was the island of Tristan 
d' Acunha, which we had been expecting for some 
days to see. Toward evening the breeze fresh- 
ened, and the following day, at 8 o'clock, we were 
hove-to abreast of the only landing place upon the 
island, there being no harbor or sheltered anchor- 
age for vessels. 

Tristan d' Acunha is the largest of a group of 
islets in the South Atlantic, nearly midway be- 
tween the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, and 
in about latitude 37 degrees South, and longitude 
12 degrees "West. The other islands are named 
Nightingale, and Inaccessible Island. Off the lat- 
ter, Commodore (at that time Commander) Bid- 
die, with w~hom I made my first cruise of three 
years, in the Navy, fought an action, during the 
war of 1812, with the British brig Penguin, he 
being at that time in command of the Hornet. 

The battle lasted twenty -two minutes, when the 
British vessel struck her colors and surrendered. 
Our old Commodore used to wear, on gala days, 
the identical coat which he wore that day in action, 
a small patch on the right arm, being the mark 
of an enemy's bullet, by which he that day re- 
ceived a wound. With a prodigality character- 
istic of such an old sailor as he was, he wore upon 



80 WHALING AND FISHING. 

this coat very large flat buttons, each the size of a 
Spanish Doubloon, and made of pure gold. 

Tristan, as the island is familiarly called by sea- 
men, presents to view an immense peak, rising 
from the ocean to the hight of over eight thousand 
feet. At the base of this mountain there is a nar- 
row belt of arable land, upon which is settled the 
little colony which makes this dreary spot remark- 
able. Next to the settlement of Pitcairn's island, 
there is probably no more interesting or romantic 
instance of colonization on record, than is con- 
tained in the story of old Governor Glass, as he 
styles himself, and his subjects and children. 

During the imprisonment of the Emperor Napo- 
leon on the island of St. Helena, the British sta- 
tioned garrisons on all the out-of-the-way rocks, 
within a circuit of hundreds, and even thousands 
of miles. Among others Tristan d' Acunha was 
chosen as the location of a troop of English sol- 
diers. Upon the death of Napoleon, these pre- 
cautionary measures were no longer necessary, 
and as the barren rock of Tristan does not lie in the 
path of vessels bound round the Cape, the garrison 
was taken off. Among the soldiers was one Glass, 
who had conceived the romantic idea of settling 
on this desolate island, after the manner of a 
Robinson Crusoe. 

Escaping to the mountains when the ship which 
was to bear his fellows to the Cape was ready to 
sail, he was left. He remained for three year3 in 



THE SETTLEMENT AT TRISTAN. 81 

solitude upon the island, cultivating a little garden 
spot, and amusing himself by exploring the moun- 
tain fastnesses, and killing goats, with which the 
island at that time abounded. At the end of this 
time an outward bound Indiaman which had 
gotten out of her latitude, hove in sight — saw 
his signal, and bore him to the Cape. Here he 
remained a sufficient time to marry a half-breed 
native woman, and to earn himself an outfit for 
the novel life to which he intended to return * and 
then, engaging passage in a schooner bound to 
St. Helena, he was landed on Tristan, where he 
has been living ever since, in contentment and 
happiness. 

In due course of time sons and daughters were 
born to his house, and with their aid he was able 
to so extend his agricultural operations, as to have 
potatoes and mutton to sell to passing vessels. 
The island now became a convenient calling -place 
for American whaling vessels bound to the Cro- 
zets, and was also visited occasionally by home- 
ward bound Indiamen, mainly to gratify the 
desire of the passengers to behold with their own 
eyes this wonderful little settlement in the wilder- 
ness of waters. 

From the sailors of these vessels, the colony 
received accessions, and these new-comers in 
time became husbands to the old patriarch's 
daughters. His sons (he had eighteen children 
in all, but mostly girls) remained with him until 
6 



82 WHALING AND FISHING. 

they grew up to man's estate, when several of 
them chose themselves wives from among the 
Portuguese inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope, 
and settled for life under the rule of their father, 
who now styled himself Governor. Two entered 
the American whaling service, where they have 
become expert whalemen, and were officers in a 
JSTew London vessel at the time of our visit to the 
island. They too have brought their families to 
Tristan, which lies at a comparatively small 
distance from the Crozets, and Desolation, the 
whaling ground of the vessel in which they are 
engaged. 

At the time of our visit the colony numbered 
one hundred and one souls, a little child born but 
a few days before our arrival, making the first of 
the new hundred. There had never been a death 
on the island since its first settlement. The old 
governor rules supreme, with a patriarchal sway, 
over the entire settlement. All trade with passing 
vessels is carried on by him, and all property is 
held in common. 

The narrow belt of land, about three hundred 
acres, which is arable, is cultivated in common, 
and each receives of the proceeds according to his 
need. Upon the arrival of a vessel each family 
states its necessities to the Governor, who barters 
his produce in exchange for such articles as are 
needed. The " almighty dollar" is not recognized 
as a medium of exchange. With the produce of 



GOV. GLASS AND HIS FAMILY. 83 

their land, and their herds of sheep and cattle, 
they are able to provide abundantly for their 
comfort; and further they seek not. 

In the arrangement and harmonious carrying 
on of his government, the old man's many daugh- 
ters have doubtless been of incalculable advantage 
to him, in procuring him numerous obedient sons- 
in-law, who, by a law he has enforced from the 
beginning, must never leave the island. At the 
time of our visit all the marriageable women were 
already disposed of. The colony did not there- 
fore stand in need of any extraneous accessions : 
else would I have been strongly tenrpted to have 
offered myself as a settler, so delightful did their 
peaceful and independent mode of life seem to me. 

The women, who are robust and fine looking, 
use the rifle, the fish spear, and the oar, with a 
skill equal to that of their husbands and brothers. 
Their dwellings are comfortable cottages, mainly 
built of stone, of which there is an abundance. 
The village lies in a little sheltered nook — in front, 
the vast ocean, and back of it, towering abruptly 
skj^ward, the immense cone which constitutes the 
greater part of the island. To the right of the 
village and landing is the narrow strip of land 
which they cultivate. Their flocks and herds, not 
numerous but thrifty, roam in summer over the 
base of the mountain, and along the narrow belt of 
level land which runs around the island. In win- 
ter, I was told, they were obliged to keep them 
nearer home, as in stormy weather cattle were 



84 WHALING AND FISHING. 

frequently lost in the immense rifts and fissures 
everywhere visible on the sides of the mountain, 
and which proclaim the volcanic origin of the 
island. 

The main cone is, in fact, an extinct volcano, 
and we were informed that in its crater there is a 
beautiful lake of pure fresh water, from which 
issue numerous rivulets running down the sides 
of the mountain and emptying into the sea. 

Fishing seemed to form one of the important 
avocations of the colonists. They had several fine 
whaleboats. As we pulled toward the shore two 
boats' crews were engaged with hook and line. 
They shared with us in the evening the proceeds 
of a very successful day's sport. The fish caught 
are principally bonita, Spanish mackerel, bara- 
couta, and a smaller kind of mackerel, such as are 
met with on the American shores. 

They have upon the island a breed of very 
beautiful, long-haired dogs, somewhat resembling 
in expressiveness of features the Newfoundland, 
but not so heavily framed. I was pained to see 
several of these fine animals limping about with 
huge billets of wood tied to one fore foot. These 
were inveterate sheep -killers, and this was the 
manner in which they were prevented from com- 
mitting their depredations. 

We hove-to off the landing at 8 o'clock, a. m. 
Shortly .after Governor Glass came along side, in 
a whaleboat. He was at that time, he said, eighty- 
five years old, but walked as erectly, and had as 



TRISTAN D'ACUNHA. 85 

much fire in his little grey eyes, as a man of forty. 
After the usual inquiries as to where we were from, 
whither bound, and what we desired to obtain of 
him, he produced a list of articles which he desired 
to obtain in exchange, valuing his potatoes, the 
only article we had come there to purchase, at one 
dollar per bushel. The calico, knives, and other 
matters which he desired, were gotten out, and 
lowering one of our boats, the captain proceeded 
to the shore with the governor, to take dinner 
with him, at his residence. 

In the course of the day our boats brought off 
the supply of potatoes which our captain had 
purchased, and at dark we stood off on our voyage. 

I think I never saw a more dreary view than 
the island presents from the sea. The vast waves 
of the Atlantic beat against the rock -bound sides, 
with a sullen roar which almost deafens one. 
The mountain's top is enveloped in a thick cloud 
of mist, which fills the atmosphere sometimes far 
down toward its base ; and the air, even on shore, 
is strongly impregnated with the dampness pecu- 
liar to the ocean. Huge, gloomy albatrosses, and 
dreary little cape pigeons darted in great numbers 
from place to place, their shrill, discordant screams 
supplying an unpleasant falsetto to the bass of the 
bellowing surf. 

So powerfully does the sea beat against the 
rocks, that even in the village, toward evening, 
when the breeze had freshened to half a gale of 
wind, one was obliged to speak at the top of his 



86 WHALING AND FISHING. 

voice, in order to be heard. It seemed more like 
a little spot of land set adrift upon the sea, than 
like a veritable fastness, impregnable to the as- 
saults of old Ocean. It is an isolated spot, and 
the good people who make it their home have, to 
all intents and purposes, dissolved all connection 
with the rest of mankind. I should think it a 
glorious place from which to meditate upon the 
vanity of those pursuits in which men in the great 
world engage with the greatest avidity. How 
unimportant must appear to these dwellers in the 
wilderness of waters, those daily strifes and toils 
which engross the lives of so many in civilized 
lands, and which we are used to look upon as so 
all important. How like a fancy sketch, or per- 
haps, more like a communication from another 
planet, must seem to them the accounts in the 
chance papers they receive, of those wars, revolu- 
tions, and ambitious struggles, which set that 
distant world agog, and furnish food for excited 
thought to millions of men for years of time. How 
like a dream, or romantic fiction, must appear 
cotemporary history, to a child born and raised 
in this out-of-the-way spot. 

The night on which we left Tristan was dark 
and storm -portending. As the wind was fair, how- 
ever, we ran along under whole top-sails, keeping 
a bright look-out ahead. During my trick at the 
helm, from twelve to two in the middle watch, the 
startling cry of " hard up! "from the mate and 
the man on look-out, brought half the watch below 



A WRECK. 87 

on deck, under the impression that we were about 
to run into some unthought of danger. It was 
the hull of a vessel, mastless, and lying upon her 
beam ends, which we had nearly gotten foul of. 
The sea ran too high for us to have heard a cry, 
had there been any one on the wreck, and the 
night was too dark to distinguish aught else than 
a huge shapeless mass, wallowing in the waves 
which broke against it. 

"We shortened sail instantly, and lay -to till day- 
break, in order to ascertain beyond doubt whether 
or no the wreck was tenantless. But when day 
broke, the hulk had disappeared, and after cruis- 
ing about the spot for two hours, we were reluc- 
tantly compelled to stand on our course — not 
knowing but that to that wreck some poor wretch 
was clinging with the fixed grasp of despair, 
hoping against hope that his faint cry would be 
heard above the roar of the sea. 

With a favoring breeze the thousand miles of 
ocean which separate Tristan from the Cape of 
Good Hope were soon left behind us. It was 
upon a sunny forenoon, as we were rushing 
through the Water, before the wind, with top-mast 
and lower studding sails set on both sides, that 
we witnessed a most beautiful and exciting race. 
The log had just been hove, and proclaimed the 
ship to be running at the rate of twelve knots per 
hour, or a mile every five minutes. Just then, 
and while we, who had superintended the reeling 
up of the line, were still upon the poop, four large 



88 WHALING AND FISHING. 

porpoises came leaping over the waves, two 
abreast. Unlike their usual course, which is to 
run counter to the direction of the wind, these 
four were racing before the wind, in a direction 
parallel to our own. Every moment they leaped 
out of the water, each leap seeming as though they 
were propelled from the mouth of a gun, so rapid 
and direct was the motion. Every muscle of their 
supple bodies was evidently strained to its utmost 
tension, and their bright eyes were fairly standing 
out from the sockets, while their short, cough-like 
spouts, seemed like the panting of racers. Thus 
they flew by us, overtaking and passing us as 
though we had been lying at anchor. Their rate 
as they passed, we supposed, must have been 
nearly twenty -five miles per hour. 

A few days with such a breeze brought us to 
our whaling ground, which was, so the mates 
informed us, along the coast of Madagascar. 

"Madagascar," said one of our factory boys to 
me one day, privately, as not feeling quite certain 
that he was not exposing an unusual degree of 
ignorance in asking the question, "that is the 
place where the raisins are brought from ; is it not? 
I never thought that was so far off. I think we'll 
get some when we go ashore there." He had 
evidently heard of Malaga, and failed to distin- 
guish between the two names. 

It was finally determined that we should sail 
up the Mozambique channel, in the hope of there 
meeting with some schools which our captain 



PLEASING ANTICIPATIONS. 89 

knew from previous experience, to frequent those 
parts of the sea at certain seasons. 

It is needless to say that we were greatly 
rejoiced at the thought of having at last reached 
whaling ground. Any change was welcome, 
which would relieve us of the monotonous hard 
labor which we had experienced hitherto on hoard. 

"What glorious times those will he, when we 
shall have nothing at all to do but to steer the 
vessel, and keep a look out for whales," was the 
universal opinion. We shall see how happy is 
the being who has his time unemployed. 



90 WHALING AND FISHING. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The "Cruising Ground" — What constitutes Whale Ground — 
How the Haunts of Whales are Discovered — The Discipline 
of aWhaleship on a cruise — Monotony of the Life — Drawing 
water — Portuguese Man-of-war — Cape St. Mary's, of Mada- 
gascar — Raising a Fin-back — " There she blows " — A false 
Alarm — Sperm Whales — Preparation for lowering — "Going 
on to a Whale " — " Give it to him ! " — The Whales run — The 
Chase — The last Desperate Effort, and accompanying Mishap 
— " Getting stove " — A furious Whale — We are picked up, and 
lose the Whale. 

"So we are at last upon our cruising ground," 
said all, with a great degree of satisfaction, as 
orders came forward one evening, that at sundown 
we would shorten sail, and heave to for the night. 
It seemed like a fulfillment of one purpose of our 
voyage, and as it made a break in the monotony of 
our life, all hailed the fact with pleasure. 

So much had been said of "good whaling 
ground," "cruising grounds," etc., that even I was 
looking for some peculiarity in the color of the 
water, the strength of the breeze, or the quality 
of the atmosphere, to distinguish this from the 
other parts of the ocean. But there was nothing 
of the kind. The sea was as deeply blue, the 
breezes as gentle, and the air as hazy as it gene- 



CRUISING GEOUND. 91 

rally is in those portions of the tropics where steady 
winds prevail. ''Cruising ground" is a very 
indefinitely defined portion of the sea, chosen by 
each captain according to his particular fancy, 
or as the experience of previous voyages may 
dictate. Our captain had cruised on these shores, 
and up the Mozambique channel on his last 
voyage — had met with tolerable success — and now 
returned to the same place in hopes that his good 
fortune would be renewed. 

New cruising grounds are continually being 
discovered by enterprising shipmasters, who steer 
boldly for those parts of the East Indian seas but 
little frequented by merchant vessels; and often 
make great voyages. Some years ago the captain 
of a New Bedford ship, on speaking a merchant- 
man, was informed that near a certain part of the 
coast of the island of Ceylon, great numbers of 
whales had been seen that year. His vessel was 
then a year out from home, and so poorly had 
they hitherto prospered, that, in whaleman's 
language, "they had scarce oil enough on board to 
grease their irons." Ascertaining the precise lati- 
tude and longitude in which whales had been 
met, and judging from the description given of 
them, that they were beyond doubt sperm whales, 
the captain made all sail for the place, and found 
whales in such plenty that he was enabled in little 
more than a year's time, to fill up his ship. They 
were mostly cow whales, who had probably found 
this a new and pleasant haunt, where they hoped 



92 WHALING AND FISHING. 

to rear their young undisturbed, with no one "to 
molest them, or make them afraid." 

"When their vessel arrived at Xew Bedford, the 
captain was immediately transferred to another 
ship, and taking with him all his officers, sailed 
back to the scene of his good fortune, and was 
successful in filling his ship again in a very short 
time. But by this time other ships had gotten on 
his track, and when he returned thither on his third 
voyage, he found the ground occupied by a fleet, 
and whales scarce. 

All kinds of maneuvers are practiced by whale- 
men to conceal their cruising ground, when they 
have, as in the above instance, met with unusually 
good "luck." When compelled to go into port for 
water or "refreshments," (a whaling term, signify- 
ing fruits and fresh provisions generally) they will 
make it a point to visit some place at a distance 
from the newly discovered ground. If while in 
port they are boarded by other whalemen, both 
officers and crew preserve the most stubborn 
silence as to the location of their "ground, "or else 
give the inquirers false directions. And if, as is 
not unlikely, they find themselves followed when 
starting on their return, they adopt th.3 most 
ingenious expedients to mislead the strangers. 

But a secret of this kind can scarcely ever be 
kept more than two voyages. It is in the posses- 
sion of too many persons, and too many keen 
eyed whalemen are striving to fathom it. 

Whales are so persistently chased and worried 



CRUISING. 93 

now-a-days, by the great fleets which annually sail 
from whaling ports of the United States, that they 
often emigrate in a body, and change their locality 
by thousands of miles. So it happens that parts 
of the sea which were years ago famous cruising 
grounds, are now entirely deserted, while every 
year new grounds are discovered, and the enter- 
prising discoverer rewarded with a full ship, and a 
speedy clearance for home. 

While making a passage, a whaleship is managed 
much as merchant vessels are. The crew is divided 
into two parts or watches, and all the regulations in 
regard to making and taking in sail, which prevail 
in the merchant service, are here also enforced. 
But once on whaling ground, the whole economy of 
the ship is changed. Each boat's crew now 
constitutes a watch, of itself, and the night, from 
six p. m. to six a. m.j is divided between them, 
making in a four boat ship three hours to each. 
During the day the vessel stands along under 
easy sail, for days together tacking and beating 
to windward: then if no whales are seen, going 
off before the wind, or returning to the leeward 
extreme of that portion of the ocean the captain 
has marked out for his "grounds," only again to 
beat slowly back to the windward end. 

Long tacks are made, andno expedient neglected 
for making a thorough survey of the surface sailed 
over. At sundown each day the light sails are 
taken in, the topsail close reefed, and the vessel is 
then brought close to the wind, with the sails so 



94 WHALING AND FISHING. 

balanced that she will lie nearly stationary, with 
the helm hard down. By wearing around once 
or twice during the night, the actual progress 
made, spite of the shortened sail, is as far as 
possible rendered nugatory, so that at daylight 
the following morning, when sail is again set, 
the vessel is as near as may be in the place where 
she was hove to on the preceding evening. Thus 
a thorough search is kept up, two men being 
constantly stationed at the mast-head, while 
frequently the captain or mate will sit aloft for 
hours at a time, keeping an additional look out. 

"With all this vigilance and precaution, however, 
it is evident that the search for whales must be 
something after the manner of looking for a needle 
in a hay-stack; and unless the cruising ground is 
very limited in extent, which is by no means 
always the case, the discovery of a school may be 
properly counted under the head of the chapter 
of accidents. 

When cruising, the day is passed in the most 
utter idleness. All hands are roused up at six 
o'clock, before which time it is not day in the 
tropics. Those who had the last or morning 
watch jump aloft, and loose the sails while the 
others are dressing. As soon as all hands are 
on deck, every sail is swayed up. The masthead- 
men then take their station, and the word is 
passed to "wash down, fore and ait." 

After the decks are thoroughly scrubbed, washed 
off, and dried, the cook announces breakfast, and 






DOLCE FAR NIENTE. 95 

with this the day's work is finished. After 
breakfast each one busies himself about his own 
affairs. Some mend their clothing, some read, 
some play cards, while yet others return content- 
edly to their berths and doze off the long hours 
till dinner time. The afternoon is but a repetition 
of the forenoon, and with the exception of an 
occasional call of all hands to "tack ship," and 
the necessary shortening sail at sunset, no one is 
called upon for labor of any kind. 

"We had looked forward to this period with 
anticipations of great pleasure — over worked as 
the crew was, on the entire outward passage. 
But man tires of nothing so quickly as a state of 
inactivity, and so we were not a week upon the 
whaling ground, ere every one complained of the 
weary monotony of such a life. Every one, that 
is to say, except our Portuguese. These seemed 
to be perfectly contented and happy. They had 
brought with them upon this voyage most of the 
clothing used by them on the voyage before, and 
had consequently much more mending, patching 
and quilting to do than the rest : more therefore, to 
engage mind and hands. And then, they had each 
undergone already one long voyage of ennui and 
their spirits were broken to it. By the time we had 
gotten a month's experience of the cruising ground, 
I no longer wondered at the wandering, lack-luster 
look, the shuffling walk, and awkward appearance 
generally, of your regular old whaleman. His 
mind has been gradually killed out by lack of use. 



9b WHALING AND FISHING. 

In the routine of duty, while cruising, the 
labor of drawing water for the matin washing 
of the decks, is the most severe that is performed. 
It seems to be a principle in the whaling service, 
that as there is exceedingly little work to be done, 
that little should be made as laborious as possible, 
as a means of making the crew more contented 
in their leisure hours. Instead, therefore, of 
providing a head-pump, by means of which water 
could be pumped up from along -side, it is all 
drawn up by men stationed at the side for that 
purpose. This is exhausting labor, under any 
circumstances ; but doubly severe when, as is often 
the case, the breeze is light, and the ship scarcely 
under headway. Under such circumstances the 
swinging of the huge awkward canvas bucket 
requires an outlay of strength which soon becomes 
a positive torture. 

It was shortly after our arrival upon the 
cruising ground that, being one morning over the 
side, drawing water, I for the first time experienced 
the effects of the poison contained in the nettle-like 
stings of the nautilus. It was a beautiful morning, 
and as is their wont at such times, the little 
argonauts had their sails spread, and could be 
seen in all directions, careering gallantly over 
the waves. By accident I caught one little fellow 
in my bucket, and in emptying him out, the mass 
of jelly (they are mere balls of jelly-like fibre) 
fell upon my bared arm. It was instantly washed 
off, but too late to save me from the sting. * 



CAPE ST. MARY'S. 97 

In a short time my arm assumed a purple color, 
and became slightly swollen. At first I experi- 
enced a titillating sensation, which, however, soon 
changed to a violent throbbing pain, and shortly 
a lump about as large as a peach appeared under 
my arm-pit. The pain lasted about an hour, when 
it gradually subsided, and in two hours more, all 
evidences of the poison had disappeared. 

It was the intention of our captain to make the 
coast of Madagascar, about Cape St. Mary's, its 
southern extremity ; and taking thence a fresh 
departure, to cruise slowly up the Mozambique 
channel. Accordingly, a few days after we had 
entered upon our regular cruising tactics, the cry 
of " Land ho ! " broke upon the dull monotony of 
our life, and in a few hours we were close to a 
bold, barren bluff, which we were informed was 
the southern extremity of Madagascar. I viewed 
it with a great deal of interest, for it was a land 
I had long desired to see, having while yet at 
home, read much of its inhabitants, of its good 
king Eadama, and of the persecutions suffered by 
the missionaries and native Christians, after his 
death. 

Standing off again, after approaching sufficiently 
near to see distinctly all objects on the shore, which, 
however, was to all appearance entirely desert, 
the vessel was now headed for the coast of Africa, 
distant from this point of Madagascar about one 
hundred and seventy miles. 

Each day the officers now became more anxious 
7 



98 WHALING AND FISHING. 

to see whales. It is quite usual with whalemen, 
at least to meet icith whales on their outward 
passage, and not at all uncommon to take some 
valuable prizes before reaching the regular 
cruising grounds. Up to this time, however, we 
had not yet seen a spout, except that of an occa- 
sional black-fish or finback, and had not succeeded 
in capturing even a porpoise. We were now 
three months out and had not yet on board oil 
enough to keep a lamp alight in the forecastle — a 
sad prospect for men to whom oil is the represen- 
tative of dollars, and blubber, of the native ore. 

"Five dollars" said the captain, one morning 
as the men repaired to the mastheads, " to the man 
that raises a sperm whale spout." 

" I'll put three pounds of tobacco to that," spoke 
up the mate. 

" And I a bunch of cigars," said the second mate. 

This set every one agog, and after breakfast the 
rigging and mastheads were crowded with men, 
eager to Avin the promised reward. 

But it was not on that day, nor the next, that 
we were to fall in with the objects of our search. 
Not till we had been two weeks upon the ground, 
did we see a spout of any kind. Then one 
forenoon, a shrill, discordant scream, of " there ! 
she! blows!" from the fore-masthead, proclaimed 
that somebody thought himself entitled to the 
promised reward. 

All hands rushed upon deck, and the captain 
and mate were half way to the royal masthead 



THERE SHE BLOWS. 99 

ere the repetition although in a very moderate 
tone, of the first cry. assured them that there was 
in reality a spout seen. Casting his eyes in the 
direction indicated by the masthead-man, the 
mate exclaimed at once, with a disappointed 
growl. 

" It's a fin-back, yon leather-head, there's no 
prize offered for such.'' 

-I told him so," grumbled the boatsteerer who 
stood at the main-masthead. -but he would not 
believe anything I said, thinking I wanted to claim 
the prize for myself."' 

Two days thereafter, as the mate stepped into 
the rigging, at daybreak, to take a preliminary 
survey, he shouted, in the utmost excitement, 
-there blows! there! there blows!! by the great 
horn spoon, boys ! a whole school just under our 
lee bow.'' 

All hands were upon deck in a moment, and the 
greater part of the crew at once jumped into the 
rigging, anxious to see at last a veritable sperm 
whale spout, and half prepared from the mate's 
excited manner, to see the whales themselves 
close aboard. 

About two miles and a half off. on our lee bow, 
a small school of what the captain, examining 
them with a good telescope, declared to be large 
whales, lay disporting themselves on the waves, 
now lazily rolling "fin up," now -lob-tailing." 
now making the white water fly, as they threw 
their vast bodies clear of their native element. 



100 WHALING AND PISHING. 

Sail was immediately made upon the ship, and 
then, while the masthead-men with the captain, 
kept up the musical cry of "there blows! " varied 
occasionally by such ejaculations as " there's 
white water ! " — " there he lob-tails ! " — " there he 
breaches ! " we hurriedly prepared the boats for the 
day's work before us. Line tubs were placed, and 
lines bent on, iron sheaths taken off, and a last whet- 
ting given to the irons, boats' gripes cast adrift, 
and oars loosened and laid in their proper places, 
water kegs filled, boat sails unlashed, and all the 
various minutiae duly attended to which experience 
has proven necessary for such occasions. All was 
life and bustle, and the stagnant pools of our blood 
were once more enlivened by a little real excite- 
ment. 

"There goes flukes!" from the masthead, 
proclaimed the close of the first scene of the day's 
drama, and immediately thereafter, 

"Breakfast all of you," from the cook, caused 
each man to rush hurriedly to the galley for his 
quota of hot slop — coffee it is called by courtesy, 
but no one who had ever drunk Mocha, Java, or 
Bio, would own it to be such. 

Hastily washing down a couple of biscuits with 
this preparation, we were ready for the word to 
"man the boats," and were at the side as soon as 
the captain showed his head above the gangway. 

"Stand by to lower away, you ship-keepers," 
was the word now, and we prepared to follow the 



MAN OVERBOARD. 101 

boats down as they were lowered, ready to leap 
into them as soon as they should strike tho 
water. 

In attempting this feat, one of the second mate's 
crew mistook the distance, and fell into the water, 
from which he was fished up, sputtering and 
shivering, receiving from the captain the consola- 
tory advice to " never mind that, as it was all clean 
water down there." 

It was a beautiful morning. There was just 
enough of breeze to make the sails of more use 
than the oars, and sufficient sea to admit of an 
easy approach to a whale. The glorious sunrise, 
such a scene as is to be witnessed only in tho 
tropics, the balmy air, and the unwonted excite- 
ment, all united to put us in excellent spirits, 
and many a joke was exchanged on prospective 
mishaps, as we put up our boat sails and set out 
for the scene of action. 

The position which each of the four boats was 
to take had been previously arranged, and as the 
whales had not appeared to be in motion when 
first seen, it was supposed that they would rise 
not far from the place where they had gone down. 
Accordingly, when we judged ourselves within 
about a quarter of a mile of this spot we hove to 
our boat, preferring to remain at that distance to 
windward, as it would be easy enough to sail down, 
but more difficult to pull up, did we fall to leeward. 
The other boats were shortly hove to likewise, and 



102 WHALING AND FISHING. 

now we lay in silence, awaiting the reappearance 
of our prey. 

Every eye and ear was on the alert, ready to 
catch the slightest motion or sound ; for none could 
tell how soon the school would make their appear- 
ance at the surface. 

' ; I thought I heard a spout," said the boat- 
steerer in a whisper. In his eagerness he had 
gotten upon the bow chock, anxiously peering 
over the waves as the boat was lifted upon the 
swell. A moment's silent listening convinced 
him that it was nothing but a sea-break, and we 
again strained our eyes for the expected sight. 

"There blows! — I told you I would see him 
first," said the mate, joyfully, as he pointed to a 
thin bushy spray just melting out of sight. 

" There blows again!" cried the boatsteerer, 
adding in a somewhat mortified tone, " I was 
looking another way, or I should have seen it 
first." 

" There, and there — and there — there blows ! — 
there are seven or eight big whales — I can see 
them now from my place," continued Barnard, 
the boatsteerer, whom I was yet holding up on 
the bow chock, the dancing motion of the boat 
making it impossible for him to maintain that 
position unsupported. 

" Sit down now, and well sail slowly down 
toward them ; I want to see in what direction they 
are going to stand." 

"We were nearest to the fish, and it was evident 



"GOING ON." 103 

that no other boat but ours, could approach them 
favorably. 

i: Pull "a little," said the mate. 

We shot her rapidly ahead with the oars for a 
few strokes, and then peaked them again, the 
boat making good headway under her sail alone. 

We could now hear them spout, and when a 
heavy swell would come rolling home, would fancy 
we could hear their huge bodies burrowing 
through the water. It was a time of intense 
excitement. 

" We'll have to stand across a little, in order to 
get up behind them," said the mate; it being 
impossible to approach a sperm whale unperceived 
from the side. 

After making a little detour, we again stood 
toward the school, and the mate singled out one 
huge fellow nearest us, and happily the largest of 
the school, as our prize. 

Each individual of the crew had received from 
the mate, on first lowering, some final instructions 
as to his especial duties, in case we should get fast; 
and we now sat stock still in the boat, oars firmly 
grasped and ready for instantaneous use, and 
scarce breathing from excitement. We were fast 
overtaking his whaleship. 

£Tow the hoarse bellow, as he ejected the water 
from his spout holes, grew louder, and looking 
over my shoulder as the boat was lifted on a 
mighty swell, I saw the huge form of leviathan, 
stupidly rolling in the waves. 



104 WHALING AND FISHING. 

"Stand up, you sir," the mate whispers to the 
boatsteerer, — a needless command, as that worthy 
has not yet sat down, and now stands with iron 
poised in hand, and knee resting firmly on the 
lubber chock, ready for action. 

" Pull a little, starboard." 

The boat is laid round, to get a fairer chance. 

Now she rises on a wave and the fish seems 
almost under us, and now — 

" Give it to him, you sir!" 

"And the other one ! ! " 

A heavy stroke of his flukes, which drenched 
us with spray, and the instantaneous whiz of the 
line through the chock, told that we were " fast." 

" Hurrah 1 " shouted the glad boatsteerer, "wet 
line ! wet line ! don't you see it smoking in the 
chock?" 

Flake after flake of the line rushed overboard, 
with a rapidity almost beyond conception; one 
tub was already empty, and half the other was 
gone before a little slacking in the speed of its exit 
gave us to understand that the whale had "gone 
his length," and was now probably returning to 
the surface : an operation which would take out 
line nearly as fast as the first sounding, were it 
not that it is held back by several turns about the 
loggerhead in the stern. The mate had meantime 
taken his place in the bow, and the lances were 
out, and lying in their rests when the whale 
reappeared on the surface some ship-lengths ahead, 
leaping nearly his entire length out of the water, 



LANCING A WHALE. 105 

and falling back with a report like distant thunder, 
and a splash which for the moment threatened to 
fill the boat. 

' ; Haul in slack line. boys, let's get up to him. 
There he lies, quite still ; take your oars and pull 
up. ; ' 

But the weight of the line hanging overboard 
rendered it impossible to manage her, and we were 
compelled to get this in first. By this time the 
whale was slowly forging ahead, evidently scarcely 
knowing what course of action would be most 
politic under the circumstances. 

•■ Xow haul up." 

Having gotten a strain on the line, we pulled 
the boat on. But just as we got within dart, the 
whale again sounded — not deep however. — and 
when he reappeared, the rest of the school were 
with him. and they were going off at the rate of 
several miles per hour, of course taking us with 
them. 

Xow however, we hauled the boat up, and the 
mate sent a lance quivering into his flesh — but not 
into a fatal part, as we could not get far enough 
in advance of our fish to afford a fair chance. 

"VTith a splash of his flukes, the whale sounded 
again, and commenced running under water, a 
proceeding which was kept up during the whole 
of a chase which lasted from this time — about 
half past eight — till after four o'clock, when 
occurred the catastrophe which wound up our 
day's sport. 



106 WHALING AND FISHING. 

The whales — there were seven in all — ran to the 
leeward, that is to say, in a direction parallel to 
that of the wind : contrary to their usual practice 
in such cases, which is to start at once right in 
the teeth of the breeze. 

"While their present course made it much easier 
for the boats to follow and perhaps catch up with 
us, it much increased the difficulty of our approach, 
for the purpose of lancing, as in such cases much 
care is requisite, else would the boat be dashed 
upon the whale by the billows which bore her 
onward. 

"We had, however, lanced but twice — both times 
ineffectually — when the fish increased their speed 
to seven or eight miles per hour, and running 
almost continually under water, it was altogether 
impossible to reach our whale with the lance, even 
had we been able to get the boat sufficiently near 
to him. 

On, on, on we swept, the other boats, with sails 
and oars, pulling might and main to catch up with 
us, and the ship, with every rag of canvas set, 
bringing up the rear. 

Whenever there seemed a possibility of reach- 
ing the whale, the boat was hauled up and a lance 
duly hurled at him ; but with little effect, as his 
small was the part most generally hit, and each 
wound seemed only to add to his sj^eed. This was 
soon such as that — the breeze having to some 
degree failed — we were fast dropping ship and 
boats in the distance. 



THE RACE. 107 

At one o'clock, by the sun, we ate our dinner, 
consisting of a biscuit and a pint of water per 
man — vowing internally, and taking our empty 
stomachs to witness, never again to get into a 
whaleboat without previously filling our pockets 
with provisions. 

At two we saw the last of the boats, and shortly 
afterward the royals of our ship faded away in 
the dim distance, leaving us quite alone with our 
huge friends, who were still going along at the 
same rapid pace, and puffing away like so many 
Mississippi steamers. 

On, on, on, we were borne, seemingly as though 
never to stop. Now the school would slack a lit- 
tle in their speed, and we would haul up to lance. 
Then they would start up again, and for half an 
hour at a time we would sit still, singing songs, or 
devising plans whereby we might circumvent our 
wary enemy. 

" Be jabers, it is much better to sit here idle, 
than to be sweating at the oars, as the other boys 
are doing," said an Irish Yankee, who pulled the 
tub oar. " An, be gorra, it's our first whale, any 
how, let them talk as they will." 

" It's not our whale till we kill him, Paddy ; 
they don't count whales till they are tried out and 
stowed down," remarked the mate. 

" If that's the case," was the answer, " it's time 
we were getting a nearer view of him than we've 
had yet." 

The mate evidently thought so too. "Wearied 



108 WHALING AND FISHING. 

with waiting for a favorable opportunity, about 
four o'clock it was determined to make a desper- 
ate effort, running every risk for the sake of get- 
ting a dart at the whale's life. 

" Pull the boat up," said the mate, with an air 
which showed that something was to be done. 

" Now Charley," to the present writer, "hang on 
to the line, and don't slack till I give the word. 
Take it out of the chock, and let her shoot ahead 
by the bow cleat." 

"Lay the boat around," — to the boat-steerer. 
This maneuver gave us a better chance, and a 
lance was sent quivering into his body. A stroke 
of his flukes on the water just ahead of us, was 
the quick reply. 

" Hold on tight — don't drop her an inch astern," 
cried the mate, as the whale came to almost a 
dead stop. 

" Now I'll get a set on you ! " he muttered 
between his clenched teeth, as the boat shot up 
against his broad side. He placed his lance fairly, 
and sent it home, with the whole weight of his 
body. As it touched his life, the whale dashed 
down head first, in the motion striking his flukes 
against the boat's bottom, and breaking two or 
three planks. No sooner had he felt her, how- 
ever, than turning with lightning speed, he re- 
turned to the surface head foremost, open-mouthed, 
striking and thrusting with his long, slender jaw, 
as though it were a sword. One blow from this 
jaw stove in the whole bow of the boat, and she 



THE CATASTROPHE. 109 

filled and turned over, almost before we could leap 
into the water. 

To grasp oars, and whatever else would float, 
was the first act of each, on finding himself over- 
board, The mate in a few minutes succeeded in 
gaining the bottom of the wrecked boat, and with 
his assistance the rest gathered there, each keep- 
ing in his hand an oar to assist him when, as fre- 
quently occured. a sea larger than usual swept us 
from our narrow perch. 

The first glance about us disclosed to us our 
antagonist, lying at the distance of a short oar's 
length from the boat, side and side with us. He was 
spouting thin blood, and the disagreeable thought 
suggested itself at once to several of us, " Sup- 
pose he goes into his flurry while we are lying 
here helpless. 1 ' 

"We must hope for the best, boys, and mean- 
time look out for the boats and the sharks,*' was 
the mate*s answer to this suggestion. i; But if he 
goes off in a flurry, you need none of you expect 
to see your mamma's again.*" 

"When we had hoisted a shirt upon a lance-pole, 
as a signal of distress, and lashed three oars across 
the boat, to keep her from continually rolling 
over, barrel fashion, we found ourselves at the 
end of our resources, and had leisure to look our 
fate in the face. It is needless to describe how 
anxiously we watched each motion of the whale — 
how the color of his spouts was critically dis- 
cussed, aud every spasmodic twitch of his flukes 



110 WHALING AND flSHlNG. 

was thought portentous of evil. Suffice it to say, 
that fortunately for us, the mate's lance had not 
touched him in any very vulnerable spot, and that 
after lying for half an hour side by side with the 
boat, and for another half hour in such a position 
that with every swell our boat's sharp stern rub- 
bed against his side, just as the sun sank below 
the horizon he turned flukes, and to our great 
relief, came up at a distance from us of some half 
dozen ship's lengths. It should have been before 
mentioned, that from the moment when our boat 
was stove, all the other whales who had till then 
borne us company, disappeared, and we saw them 
no more. 

Scarcely had " our whale " risen to the surface, 
when we descried a boat-sail at but a short dis- 
tance off. It was fast growing dark, as there is 
scarcely any twilight in those latitudes, so that it 
was with no ordinary joy we hailed the approach 
of what proved to be the Captain's boat. 

"Are you all there?" he asked, as he came 
within hail. 

" Yes, sir." 

" Well, just hang on there till I kill your whale," 
was the cool rejoinder. Saying which, he turned 
the boat toward the fish. She had scarcely got- 
ten within two boat's lengths of him when, snap- 
ping his jaws together with a sharp report which 
showed that his ire was fully roused, the whale 
made for the boat. 

" Stern all ! back water for your lives ! ! " cried 



AN ANGRY WHALE. Ill 

the captain, slipping the sheet ; and fortunately, 
just in time to escape the angry rush of the whale, 
who glided beneath the surface, and rose again at 
a short distance astern. 

The boat was laid round, and a few strokes of 
the oars brought her again within his reach, when 
he repeated his former action, and it was only by 
the most strenuous exertion that the crew suc- 
ceeded in backing out of his track. This time, 
however, the boatsteerer had managed to plant 
an iron in him, and a shout announced that he was 
not given up yet. But a groan of disappointment 
succeeded the shout, as the line suddenly slack- 
ening, announced that the iron had drawn, and 
the whale was " loose," going off with two irons 
and two tubs of line fast to him, and spouting 
blood at that. 

It was now quite dark, and we were not sorry 
to be taken off our wreck into the captain's boat. 
Meantime the other two boats and the ship had 
neared us, and after half an hour's -pulling we 
arrived on board, where a good supper, (for a 
whaleship), awaited us. 

" Well, Paddy," said the mate next morning, as 
we. were washing down the decks, " what will you 
take for your share of oar first whale f " 



112 WHALING AND FISHING. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Fitting a new Boat — We raise Whales again — Our Boat gets 
fast — The Whale takes out the Line — The Mate despairs — 
Sunset — The third Mate refastens — The Mate kills the 
Whale — " There's Blood " — The Flurry — Getting a Fish along 
side— Cutting in— Wrenching off the Head— The Teeth— The 
Junk — The Case — Extraordinary gathering of Sharks — 
Their Rapacity — Trying out— Horse-pieces — Blanket-pieces — 
Mincing — Division of Labor — A Night Scene — Nauseating 
Labor — Picking out fat-lean — Stowing down the Oil — Clear- 
ing up Decks. 

Our first labor, on the following morning, was 
to fit a new boat, to replace the one lost the day 
before. There were, as before mentioned, three 
spare boats overhead, and one of these was now 
turned over, and swung to the davits. It required 
the labor of several days from our boat's crew, 
ere we were once more so comfortably fitted as 
in our old boat. There were lines to be stretched 
and coiled, and re-coiled. There were irons and 
lances to be ground sharp, and fixed to their poles. 
There were numberless little beckets and cleats 
to be nailed and fastened in numberless little out 
of the way nooks and crevices about the bow and 
stern. There were thole-pins and thole-pin mats 
to fit. There was a boat-spade, and boat-hatchet, 



FITTING A NEW BOAT. 113 

and boat-compass, and water-breaker, and boat- 
sail, and divers nameless little necessaries to pro- 
vide and fit. 

To see all these articles lying together upon 
deck, before they were placed in the new boat, one 
would scarcely have believed that one little whale 
boat would contain them, and her crew of six full- 
sized men into the bargain. 

We made all possible haste with our new boat, 
that we might not be left on board, should whales 
be seen. Our shipmates had laughed at us on 
account of our mishap, and we felt therefore anx- 
ious to retrieve our credit, by a more successful 
stroke. There can be no one more ready to suc- 
cor the really distressed, nor any kinder sympa- 
thizer in affliction, or more faithful nurse to the 
sick, than the sailor. But a long familiarity with 
danger hardens him to it, and no one gets credit 
for being accidentally placed in an awkward or 
helpless position. 

Had any one of our crew been injured by the 
blow of the whale which destroyed our boat, that 
individual would have met with the kindest of 
treatment from every soul on board. And when 
the captain's boat's crew saw us lying helpless on 
the remnant of the boat, nothing could have 
equaled the heartiness with which they pulled to 
our rescue. But when it was once found that we 
were in no immediate danger, the sympathy which 
they were prepared to extend to us vanished, and 
was replaced at once by a desire to laugh at the 
8 



114 WHALING AND FISHING. 

ludicrous figures we presented, clinging like half 
drowned rats to the wreck. This was exempli- 
fied by a half laugh which followed the captain's 
words to us, " "Well, you may stay there a little 
while." 

On our return on board, we were unmercifully 
quizzed, and any lurking desire to have ourselves 
considered the heroes of the day, was nipped in 
the bud by numerous inquiries as to whether salt 
water bathing was likely to restore us to health 
and vigor ; whether any one had ventured to ride 
on whale-back ; w T hether any one had thought of 
making a propitiatory offering to the whales ; or 
whether we had not wished ourselves safe at home, 
"tied to mamma's apron-strings." 

" Never mind, boys," said Barnard, the boat- 
steerer, to us, " we'll show them how to kill the 
next whale, and give them a chance to laugh 
another way." 

And we were fully determined to do so. 

It was not many days before we had an oppor- 
tunity to put in practice our determination. The 
officers were very anxious to take at least one 
whale before we should fall in with any of the 
vessels then known to be cruising in the Mozam- 
bique Channel, in order to retrieve by that the 
late mishap, as well as to have it to say that we 
had made a fair beginning. Every day, there- 
fore, the mastheads and upper yards were crowded 
with eager lookers out, determined to let no spout 
or blackskin escape their keen gaze. 



LOWERING ON A ROUGH DAY. 115 

It was about a week after our mishap, that 
whales were raised, little more than a mile to wind- 
ward. There was a fresh breeze, and more sea 
than a boat could be comfortably pulled against. 
But at this time we would have "lowered" in a 
gale of wind. Moreover, a moderately rough day, 
such as this was, is considered a much better wha- 
ling time than when there is little wind and a 
smooth sea; as it has been found that whales will 
not run so fast, and oftentimes will not run at all, 
thus becoming an easy prey. 

The whales — three in number — were slowly 
drifting to leeward. They were discovered about 
ten o'clock, a. m. We worked the ship to wind- 
ward until one o'clock, keeping well ahead of 
them, and then, having gotten into what was con- 
sidered a favorable position, took advantage of 
their sounding, to " lower." 

" Now, my lads," said the mate to us, after we 
were some distance from the ship, " if we do not 
get fast and kill our whale to-day, I shall think 
we have not done our duty ; and if we do, you'll 
have a bunch of cigars each." 

He could not have spoken more to the point, 
and the crew looked a determination to " put him 
on " to the first fish that showed himself. 

The breeze was so strong when we left the ves- 
sel, that she could hardly carry her main top- 
gallant sail. Yet when we had pulled the boat 
to the spot near which the whales were ex- 
pected to rise, we set our little boat-sail, a mere 



116 WHALING AND FISHING. 

handkerchief, as it were, and the lively boat 
danced merrily over the waves, taking in not a 
drop of water. !No thing can exceed the buoyancy 
of one of these little cockle shells. From their 
peculiar build and shape, they are especially 
calculated to withstand a seaway ; and there are 
instances on record which prove that a whale- 
boat, rightly managed, (which however, requires 
great skill and unceasing vigilance) will live in a 
gale of wind in which many large ships shall 
make very uncomfortable weather. 

"There he blows," sung out the boatsteerer, 
pointing to a white spout on our left, and nearest 
the second and third mates' boats, which were for 
this time cruising in company, the fourth mate 
being not far from us. 

"It's their chance," said the mate with some- 
thing of disappointment in his voice, and we 
prepared to look on at their maneuvers, trusting 
to fortune for an opportunity for ourselves after- 
ward. 

But by the time the other two boats had been 
pulled around so as to approach the whales from 
ahead — a matter requiring in such a seaway, 
some time — they had already sounded again. 

For some half-dozen risings we were thus held 
in suspense. Sometimes it was our chance, some- 
times that of the others, but at no time did the 
fish remain on the surface a sufficient length of 
time to give us a fair opportunity for getting fast. 

The ship had been worked to windward all the 



FAST AGAIN. 117 

afternoon, under the direction of the captain, who 
had doubtless been watching our actions with 
no little anxiety as to the result. The sun was 
now but about half an hour high, and a waif (a 
little white flag) had just been displayed from the 
peak of the ship, to bid us prepare to return on 
board. 

"There's the waif, sir, and the captain's keeping 
off to run down to us." 

"And there's the whale, by the hook block! 
and now we'll keep off. It's our chance, boys, 
hurrah!" 

" Take down your boat-sail, and pull the boat 
round." 

It was done before the words were fairly uttered. 
The boat was pointed toward the whale, who was 
lazily wallowing in the trough of the sea, evi- 
dently unsuspicious of danger. We did not need 
to pull. Once fairly before the wind, the waves 
bore us on at the rate of some six or seven miles 
per hour. A few minutes brought us within fair 
sight of the whale; a few strokes of the oars 
placed the boat so far ahead of him as to enable 
us to approach him unobserved. 

"Stand up, you sir." 

"And now pull, you scamps — pull hard, half a 
dozen strokes — spring your oars, boys! " 

"So— let her run!" 

" Give it to him ! ! " 

Before a second iron could be darted, the whale 
had disappeared beneath the foaming surge; but 



118 WHALING AND FISHING. 

the lightning-like velocity with which the line 
was disappearing over the bow, told plainly 
enough that the first iron had hit him. 

He was sounding with a fearful speed. Before 
we could fairly realize that we were fast, one 
tub was emptied of its line, and now the mate, 
who had not yet had time to jump to the bow, 
(always the first evolution after the whale is 
struck), hurriedly bent a "drug" — a thick flat 
piece of light wood, about two feet square — to the 
inner end of the line, which is always left exposed 
for this purpose. This was scarcely done when 
it was snatched out of the mate's hand, and stri- 
king one of the crew a slight blow on the head, 
disappeared with the balance of the line, over- 
board. 

As the drug vanished from our sight, the sun 
was sinking beneath the waters. The poor mate 
tore his hair, in agony at our ill luck, while we 
sat silent, thinking of what seemed to be a perverse 
fate. There was scarcely a hope that the whale 
would rise again before dark, as the twilights in 
those latitudes are exceedingly short. Yet there 
was a hope, and every eye now scanned the water, 
trusting to catch some sign of the whale's reap- 
pearance. 

"Don't look for the drug — it's too dark to see 
that. You'll scarce see a whale now, more than 
three ship's lengths off." 

Minute after minute we lay there, every eye 
strained, every heart beating with anxiety. It 



-there's blood." 119 

was now too dark to distinguish even the boats, 
which were nnder sail at a quarter of a mile's 
distance, and with sinking hearts, we were one 
by one abandoning the lookout, and turning our 
eyes toward the ship, when 

"There, by George, there's the whale — the 
third mate has fastened to him," shouted the 
mate, jumping up and down with joy. 

Giving vent to a shout of exultation, we bent 
to our oars, and were soon within hail of the fast 
boat. 

"Don't you lance that whale — he's got our iron 
in him and I want to kill him — blast him," shouted 
the mate, hoarse with excitement. 

The fish lay quite still upon the water, and the 
third mate readily gave place to us. "We took 
hold of his line. 

"Now pull me up to the beast." 

" Take the line to the bow cleat, and then take 
a turn about the bow thwart, and hold me to him 
till I churn him ! " 

The boat was brought in contact with the 
whale's side, and while I held her there, by a turn 
of the line as directed, the mate set the long 
slender lance fairly over his life, and sent it home, 
repeating his thrust again and again. A tremen- 
dous quiver of the vast body, and the issue of a 
mass of clotted blood from his spout-holes, were 
the immediate consequences. 

" There's blood — hurrah ! " was exultingly 
shouted at the top of every voice. It is a cry 



120 WHALING AND FISHING. 

•which the whaleman at all times utters with joy ; 
but with us it was doubly joyful, because of the 
sudden transition from previous depression and 
hopelessness, to present certainty of victory. 

" There he rolls it out, thick as coal tar," said 
the mate, as he heard a hoarse gurgling sound — it 
was too dark any longer to distinguish between 
blood and water. 

"Stern now, men, stern all — quick!" as the 
whale rolled over in his flurry. 

The command was given none too soon. And 
now he beat the waters with his flukes, and darted 
hither and thither at immense speed, in his death 
struggle. From the distance to which we had 
removed for safety from an accidental stroke, we 
could not see his actions; and it was fearful to list 
to the swift blows of his flukes, and know that 
but a little way from us, in the thick darkness, a 
leviathan was parting from life. 

His flurry was short. The mate's lance had 
been too well pointed. 

Meantime we had set our boat-lantern, and the 
ship now bore down toward us, with two lights 
in her rigging, glaring upon us as though she 
were some great monster come to the assistance 
of its brother. Two boats had returned on board, 
and we of the remaining two now prepared to 
take a line from the vessel, by which to pass a 
mooring chain about the dead whale's flukes. 
The sea was quite high, the night pitch dark, and 
altogether, I soon came to the conclusion that 



MOORING A WHALE. 121 

the worst part of our business was yet to bo 
done. 

In order to keep the whale in a proper position 
for cutting in, a chain is placed round that part 
called his small — the tapering extremity to which 
the flukes or tail is joined. This small, in a whale, 
is not small by any means, being about the circum- 
ference of a flour barrel, and deserving the name 
only by comparison with the balance of his body. 

When dead, a whale lies upon his side, with one 
fin out of water. He floats just upon a level with 
the water, the flukes and small being completely 
below the surface. It is, therefore, not a slight 
undertaking, particularly at night, and in a heavy 
sea, to pass the necessary line. The operation is 
performed by two boats, in the following manner : 
A light line is provided, weighed down at the 
middle by a six or ten pound shot. Each boat 
takes one end of this line, and one being stationed 
on either side of the whale, they pull slowly 
toward his head, with the intention of passing the 
bight, or middle of the rope, beneath the whale's 
body. Four times we tried this experiment, but 
each time the line was caught in the fork of the 
flukes, which, lying now perpendicularly in the 
water, reach to a considerable extent beneath the 
surface. The fifth time we were successful, and 
with a shout passed the ends of our line to the 
ship where the rest of the manipulation is gone 
through with ; it being the office of the boats now 
to preserve and hold tightly the middle of the 



122 WHALING AND FISHING. 

rope, in order that it may not be again swept from 
its place by the waves. 

To the small line is bent or fastened a stout 
rope; next comes a hawser, and at last the chain 
is slowly paid out overboard, one end being first 
passed through a ring in the other. The slip- 
noose or " running bight " thus formed is finally 
tightened about the whale's small, and he is secure. 
Additional irons were now put into the whale, 
and the lines passed on board, that we might not 
lose our fish, should an accident happen to the 
chain ; and then the carcass was slowly hauled up 
to the side, and secured for the night. 

It was nine o'clock before we of the mate's boat 
got on board, to change our wet clothing and 
obtain a bite of supper. The watch was then set, 
and orders given to those on deck to get up the 
cutting gear, and clean out the try- works, prepar- 
atory to the labors of the succeeding day. 

At early daylight all hands were called from their 
warm berths, and the bustle and labor of cutting- 
in began. Stages were slung over the side, where- 
on the officers stand with long-handled spades, to 
cut the blubber. Tackles were got up to the 
mast, wherewith to lift the ponderous blocks and 
ropes used for hoisting in the blubber ; the blub- 
ber room was cleared of a mass of rubbish which 
had accumulated there during the outward pass- 
age, and then, breakfast being over, the real labor 
of the day was commenced. 

The whale lies with his head toward the stern 



CUTTING-IN. 123 

of the vessel. The first thing to be clone is to sep- 
arate the head from the body. To this purpose, 
a place being fixed upon where it is supposed the 
back bone can be separated, a deep incision is 
made with a spade. A strip of the adjoining 
blubber, about six feet wide, is now cut loose on 
both sides, and an incision being also made longi- 
tudinally in this strip, a boat-steerer goes down in 
a "bowline," to hook on the first "blanket-piece." 

This done — and this is about the most difficult 
and dangerous duty in cutting-in a whale — the 
crew heave away at the windlass, and the officers 
cut away on each side as necessary. The whale 
is thus rolled completely around, the thick blub- 
ber peeling off easily from the flesh beneath. 
The deep incision next to the head is continued, 
the spade being thrust down till it strikes the ver- 
tebra ; and thus by the time the carcass has made 
one entire revolution, the head hangs merely by 
the joints which connect it with the backbone. 

A stout oak post is now placed with one end 
resting against a plate prepared on the ship's 
side, and the other inserted in a hole cut in the 
head. The cutting and hoisting recommences, 
and as the whale's body is slowly turned, the head, 
which is kept stationary by the post, is gradually 
wrenched off. Previously to this, however, a 
head-chain has been passed through a hole made 
for the purpose, and by this the severed mass now 
hangs. When the head is loose, the body is hauled 
forward clear of the gangway. The lower jaw — 



124 WHALING AND PISHING. 

or jaw, as it is called, the balance being the head 
proper — a long, slender bone, is severed and hoisted 
in. In this are contained the teeth, which are 
valued as ivory, and worked into various fancy 
articles during subsequent leisure hours. A 
sperm-whale's teeth are placed in such a manner 
as to hook back, and are moveable in their sockets. 
i\ T ow comes the head, the most important part 
of the whale, as it is a nearly solid mass of blub- 
ber and spermacetti. Where the whale is large, 
this is now again subdivided, the entire mass 
being far too heavy to hoist in at once. It was 
judged that our whale would make about sixty 
barrels. This is above the average, and the case, 
that part of the head which contains the pure 
spermacetti, was therefore separated from the rest, 
and hoisted in first. This safely landed, the head 
was swayed, and on reaching the deck, was 
shoved aft, on the quarter deck. It barely fitted 
under the beams which supported the spare boats, 
and formed a cube of nearly nine feet. How much 
it weighed, I would not attempt to guess. The 
case, which was placed against it — tackles being 
required to slide it along the well-greased decks — 
was nearly as large. 

The cutting-in now recommenced. As one 
tackle reached the masthead, another was brought 
down and hooked, or rather, toggled in at the gang- 
way. The upper piece was then cut loose, and 
lowered down into the blubber -room, where it 
lay, with the blacksJcin down. 



SHARKS. 125 

Long before this time — in fact, with early day- 
light — an immense number of sharks had gath- 
ered around the ship, attracted thither by the 
blood and scent of our prize. As far as the eye 
could distinguish them, their dorsal fins could be 
seen gliding over the water, all hurrying to the 
scene of slaughter, eager to secure a share of the 
prize. The extraordinary number of these sea 
lawyers present, was equaled only by their rapa- 
city. Before we began cutting -in, they had 
already commenced their meal. Taking advan- 
tage of a heave of the swell, a shark would wrig- 
gle up on top of the whale, and setting his wide 
opened mouth against the solid blubber, would 
bite out a piece as round as and about the size of a 
man's head. The officers spent their leisure mo- 
ments in cutting at them with the spades, and one 
man was stationed abreast of the whale's head, 
with a long sharp spade, to keep them off that 
part. I saw one cut in such a manner that his 
entrails protruded into the water, and yet this 
animal, which it was to be supposed would almost 
immediately die, wriggled itself up on the whale, 
and took out a huge mouthful, paying for its 
temerity by having the greater part of its tail 
cut off. 

It is almost impossible to kill a shark. They 
have as many lives as a cat. The amount of suf- 
fering they will undergo before death ensues, is 
really marvelous. I have seen all the entrails 
taken out of one, and yet after lying about on 



126 WHALING AND PISHING. 

deck for an hour, he bit and crushed a stout ash 
pole between his teeth. They remain about the 
ship until the carcass is set adrift, when they 
divide the rich prize with the sea-birds. There 
are few instances on record of a shark having 
bitten a man while cutting-in. There is too great 
a superabundance of other food. Boatsteerers, 
whose business it is to go down upon the whale 
to hook on the first blanket-piece, an operation 
requiring sometimes fifteen or twenty minutes to 
execute, are scarce ever molested. The mate 
stands by, however, with a spade, ready to meet 
any advances on the part of the sharks. I have 
seen a man working on the whale, with a shark 
close beside him : he simply giving the fish a kick 
with his heavy sea-boot, when he became aware 
of its close proximity. 

Meantime the cutting-in proceeded ; and, by 
dint of strenuous exertions, we finished this part 
of our labor at five o'clock, p. m. The gory car- 
cass was then set adrift, and floated off to leeward, 
a huge bone of contention to innumerable sharks 
and sea-birds. 

The first thing now to be done was to start up 
the fires. The enormous blanket -pieces had been 
piled into the blubber-room until it was full to the 
brink, and now two men, stripping off their shirts, 
and enveloping their heads in cotton handker- 
chiefs, got on to this mass of grease to cut it up 
into horse-pieces, morsels about fourteen inches 
square. These again were thrown upon deck, 



THE CASE AND JUNK. 127 

and passed forward to the inincing-horse, where, 
with two men to turn and one to feed the machine, 
sufficient blubber to fill our two try -kettles was 
soon minced. This ready, the fires were started, 
first with wood, the dry " cracklings," or scraps, 
.as they are called, being afterward used for fuel. 

Numerous empty casks were now hoisted on 
deck, coopered, and lashed along the bulwarks. 
Into these the oil was bailed, after being allowed 
to cool in a copper tank adjoining the try -works, 
and there it remained until quite cool, when it was 
stowed below. Meantime the case was opened ; 
a man being placed in the large opening, the pure 
and beautifully white spermacetti was bailed out 
with a bucket constructed for that purpose. It is 
quite fluid when first taken out, but quickly con- 
geals on exposure to the air. It is at once placed 
in new casks, which are duly marked " case." 

The shell, when completely empty, was with 
much labor and by the united strength of the 
whole crew, hauled to the gangway, where, divest- 
ing it of tackles, we took advantage of a favorable 
lurch of the ship to launch it overboard. The 
case itself, although closely resembling blubber, is 
in fact a huge mass of tendons, muscles and fibres, 
so closely interwoven as to be almost impervious 
to the harpoon or spade. It yields no oil by try- 
ing out, and is therefore fitly thrown away. 

'.Next, the junk, the remaining portion of the 
head, was cut into horse-pieces and tried out sep- 
arately, the oil from this part of the whale being 



128 WHALING AND FISHING. 

regarded as greatly superior to the rest, the sperm- 
acetti being, of course, the most valuable. It was 
not until I was set to work upon this enormous 
mass of solid blubber, that I fairly realized the 
size of the animal we had slain. This huge cube 
of nearly nine feet, was only a portion, perhaps 
a fair half of his head. What then, thought I, 
as I slashed away at it, my puny strokes seem- 
ing like those of an ant nibbling at an apple, 
what then must have been the size of his entire 
carcass. 

Our trying-out operations were in ; ' full blast." 
The watch had been set at eight, one-half the 
crew being kept on deck for six hours, which is 
the duration of a trying-out watch. On such 
occasions each man has a particular duty assigned 
him. The mates and boatsteerers superintend 
the try-pots, feed the fires, and ladle out the seeth- 
ing oil into a copper cooler. Three men are con- 
stantly employed at the mincing machine ; some 
pitch horse-pieces from the blubber-room hatch 
to the machine ; while others have the care of the 
casks, rolling them up to be filled, and afterward 
securing them. One at the wheel and another on 
look-out, with a few to look on, and " spell " the 
rest, complete the list. 

At night, our ship presented a highly pictur- 
esque scene. The flames, darting high above the 
try-works, revealed the masts, rigging and decks, 
in an unearthly glare, among which the men 
jumping or sliding about decks on their various 



THE HORRORS OF "TRYING OUT." 129 

duties, seemed like demons dancing about an 
incantation fire. But with this picture all the 
romance departs. The smell of the burning 
cracklings is too horribly nauseous for descrip- 
tion. It is as though all the ill odors in the world 
were gathered together and being shaken up. 
Walking upon deck has become an impossibility. 
The oil washes from one side to the other, as the 
ship lazily rolls in the seaway, and the safest mode 
of locomotion is sliding from place to place, on 
the seat of your pantaloons. 

Moreover, everything is drenched with oil. 
Shirts and trowsers are dripping with the loath- 
some stuff. The pores of the skin seem to be filled 
with it. Feet, hands and hair, all are full. The 
biscuit you eat glistens with oil, and tastes as 
though just out of the blubber room. The knife 
with which you cut your meat leaves upon the 
morsel, which nearly chokes you as you reluc- 
tantly swallow it, plain traces of the abomin- 
able blubber. Every few minutes it becomes 
necessary to work at something on the lee side 
of the vessel, and while there you are com- 
pelled to breath in the fetid smoke of the scrap 
fires, until you feel as though filth had struck into 
your blood, and suffused every vein in your body. 
From this smell and taste of blubber, raw, boiling 
and burning, there is no relief or place of refuge. 
The cabin, the forecastle, even the mastheads, all 
are filled with it, and were it possible to get for a 

9 



130 WHALING AND FISHING. 

mom nt to clean quarters, one would loath him- 
self — reeking as everybody is, with oil. 

It is horrible. Yet old whalemen delight in it. 
The fetid smoke is incense to their nostrils. The 
filthy oil seems to them a glorious representative 
of prospective dollars and delights. They wallow 
in blubber, and take a horse -piece for their pillow 
when lying down. They bake doughnuts and 
biscuit in the seething oil, and portions of the 
whale's lean meat are prepared for their daily 
dinner. I was induced by curiosity to try a piece 
of nicely cooked whale. The raw meat is of a 
dark red color, nearly black, and somewhat resem- 
bling very coarse beef. It is generally minced 
fine, and fried, after the manner of forcemeat 
balls. I could not stomach it — although our 
captain declared, with his mouth crammed full, 
that it was the best thing he had tasted for a long 
time. 

Three days our trying out lasted. The closing 
scene was the worst. From the fact that the 
blubber is torn off the whale's sides, it unavoid- 
ably happens that occasionally a piece of meat 
is brought up with the blanket-pieces. This is 
known as the "fat-lean," and is carefully stripped 
from the horse-pieces, and thrown into large open 
casks, where the heat of the sun and of the 
adjacent fires gradually drain it of the oil it 
contains. This being of an inferior quality, is 
left to the last day, and by that time the meat is 



"FAT- LEAN." 131 

green and putrid. Men are now set to work to 
fish out those pieces not considered of sufficient 
value to try out, and pitch them overboard. For 
this purpose one has to lean with his head quite 
inside the open cask, and inhaling all the noisome 
stench arising from the decayed mass within, feel 
around with his hands, to grasp the slimy morsels 
which are not fit for the try-kettles. 

The captain and I worked side by side at one 
cask for a half an hour, at the end of which time 
I was obliged to say that I could not stand it 
longer. I was deathly sick. 

" That's nothing, Charley," said he, "just fancy 
it's dollars you are groping among, and the 
matter will assume a very different odor." But I 
thought that too high a price for dollars. 

The third afternoon we tried out our last kettle 
full, and put out the fires. The blubber room was 
now cleaned out, the various utensils used for the 
past three days, stowed away, and the decks 
cleaned up a little. Two clays longer the oil was 
kept upon deck, to give it time to cool thoroughly, 
and then the labor of " stowing down " began. 
Boiling huge oil casks across a slippery deck, 
while the ship is pitching and rolling in the sea- 
way, is a task of considerable labor. This, too, 
came to an end at last, and then ensued a grand 
cleaning up — decks, sides, bulwarks, forecastle and 
cabin, all received a thorough cleansing, and at 
the end of two or three days more, the ship again 
looked like the habitation of Christian men, and 



132 WHALING AND FISHING. 

we, her crew, were again in good odor with our- 
selves. 

It is a fortunate circumstance that sperm oil 
will wash off easily, not leaving any stain upon 
wood, and but little upon the rough clothing 
whalemen wear. The smoke and cinders make 
the chief dirt, penetrating as they do, every part 
of the vessel, and bearing with them that peculiarly 
sickening smell of burning meat, the remembrance 
of which, even to this day, disgusts me. Happy 
day it was for me, when I was once more permit- 
ted to put on clean clothes, and could eat biscuit 
without oil, and meat unaccompanied by the taste 
of blubber. 



GAMMING." 133 



CHAPTER VIII. 

"Gamming"— Sail ho!— The Betsy Ann— Her Crew— A "Mer- 
chant Sailor" — A Council — A school of Whales — A race 
between two Whale boats — The Offer to share the Chances 
refused — It is our Whale — The Bazaroota Islands — Procuring 
Wood — A strange Fish — Harpooning Hippopotami — We cause 
one to " spout blood " — Tow it Ashore — Hippopotamus Steak — 
A Night Yisit to the Shore for the Purpose of Killing a few 
Hippopotami, with its Results. 

Meantime a sharp look-out was kept up for 
whales — although I believe the crew generally 
were quite willing to have no more trying out to 
do for some time — even if dollars were not gath- 
ered so fast in consequence. But we now daily 
expected to fall in with some other whaling vessels, 
which our captain supposed to be cruising in this 
latitude. 

Next to a run on shore, a " gamm," as it is 
called. — that is, a social reunion of the crews of 
two ships, accidentally meeting on a cruise — forms 
the pleasantest incident in a whaling voyage. 
Then are old times talked over, old friends inquired 
after, past adventures related, and a mutual 
interchange of the good things of whaling life 
effected, all tending to make the few hours devoted 
to this social intercourse as pleasant as possible. 



134 WHALING AND FISHING. 

It was about a week after we had stowed down 
our oil, and cleaned ship, that one morning the cry 
of " sail ho ! " brought all hands on deck, and caused 
the captain to run quickly aloft with his spy -glass, 
to reconnoitre the stranger. The vessel's course 
was immediately altered so as to intersept the 
strange sail, and various speculations were haz- 
arded by officers and crew as to her name, business, 
and hailing place. 

"She's a whaler, that's settled," said the third 
mate confidently; "else she would not be here." 

" Then we'll have a gamm, boys, hurrah ! " cried 
a boatsteerer. 

Soon her top gallants were visible from the 
deck; and now the mate, just returned from the 
masthead, declared his belief that she was not a 
" Natucketer ; " a very welcome piece of intelli- 
gence indeed, for such is the jealousy existing 
between rival whaling ports, that many Nantuck- 
etmen refuse to "gamm" with vessels hailing from 
"the Sound." 

" The skipper thinks its the Athenia, which left 
!New London two weeks before we sailed," said 
the mate. 

" We may bless our stars that we have got a 
whale on board, else we should be ashamed to 
look those fellows in the face." 

" There goes her burgee — oh for ten thousand 
spy-glasses now." 

" She's the Betsy Ann, from New Bedford ; I 



OUR RECEPTION. 135 

know her," hails the captain, now descending 
from the masthead. 

We were soon informed that the Betsy Ann had 
been nearly three years from home, and that she 
had a smart crew, who were not to be beat in get- 
ting on to a whale, by any set of men in those 
seas. In a short time the strange vessel was 
within hail, when the nsual salutations were ex- 
changed. And after duly informing them that we 
were four months out and had taken one whale, a 
week or so ago, we were told in return that they 
had now nineteen hundred barrels on board, had 
seen no whales for three weeks, and thought of 
steering for the Isle of France, in hopes to fall in 
with some off the shores of that island. 

" Wont you come aboard, Captain Starkweather?" 
asked our captain. 

"Yes, I'll lower my boat; let your mate come 
aboard of us." 

Filling our pockets with tobacco, and our shirt- 
bosoms with books, we of the mate's boat were 
soon ready, and lowering the boat, pulled on board 
the Betsy Ann, a rusty looking old tub as ever 
floated. 

We were received at the gangway by as motley 
an assemblage of tanned faces, long beards, and 
patched garments, as I ever saw. They spoke in 
low tones, automatically held out their hands to 
us, and then, two of our fellows having hooked 
our boat on, she was hoisted to the davits of the 
captain's boat. Now filling the main-top-sail 



136 WHALING AND FISHING. 

we stood on, thus losing* no ground by our 
enjoyment. 

Our first reception had seemed to us cool. "We 
were languidly asked down into the forecastle, 
which smelt abominably of decayed roaches and 
oil soap, and here seats were given us on the 
chests. Once seated, all hands preserved a most 
decorous silence for nearly ten minutes, when one 
of the strangers at last ventured to ask how long 
we were from home, and what was the latest 
news. 

Being duly posted on this topic, they again 
relapsed into silence, and I was beginning to think 
that gamming was an unmitigated bore, when I 
was accosted by a tall fellow, whose patches, being 
of colors a little different from those of his ship- 
mates, had struck me from the first as not " native, 
to the manor born." He asked me, with a doubt- 
ing smile, whether I was not a merchant sailor. 
An earnest "yes," produced a hearty shaking of 
hands between us, and an immediate proposal on 
his part to adjourn to the deck, where we could 
talk matters over more at our leisure. 

Stowing ourselves snugly away on the topgal- 
lant forecastle, we took such a turn at yarning as 
probably neither of us had enjoyed for a long 
time. He was a Scotchman, and had shipped as 
carpenter of the vessel. This was his first whaling 
voyage, and he expressed an opinion, which I 
very emphatically indorsed, that whaling was an 
enormous, filthy humbug. 



chips. 137 

Ben — that was my new friend's name — was an 
old sailor, and had seen a good deal of the world. 
"We had therefore a good deal to talk about, and 
a great many places to compare notes on. First, 
however, I laid before him my free-will offering 
of tobacco and books, requesting him to share the 
former with any other good fellows on board. 
This, together with the fact that I was a merchant 
sailor, procured me shortly an enlarged acquain- 
tance on board, all who were in the good graces 
of Chips seating themselves around us to listen 
to our yarns. 

The hardships to which the merchant sailor is 
exposed, beyond either the man-of-war's man or 
the whaleman, and the strange vicissitudes of his 
life, procure him, in a superior degree, the esteem 
of all other classes of seafaring people. Whether 
in the polished man-of-war, the dirty whaler, or 
the diminutive fisherman or coaster, a merchant 
sailor, as he is always first at the post of duty or 
danger, is allowed to place himself first at mess, 
or in the council. It was thus that I found Chips 
looked up to with respect not unmixed with fear, 
by the rest of his shipmates in the forecastle, 
while the officers valued him above any other half 
dozen of the crew. And it was thus that I, while 
cordially hated by the greater part of my verdant 
shipmates, was yet able to exact sufficient respect 
from them to make them defer to my opinions, 
and leave my property unmolested. 

I explained to Chips my position on board ship, 



138 WHALING AND PISHING. 

and disagreement with the greenhorns, whom 1 
could look upon only as speaking brutes — with 
several exceptions of course. 

" I'll tell you, Charley," said he, " the reason why 
they hate you. You assert for yourself the posi- 
tion of a man, but have not the heard necessary to 
a tacit enforcement of your claims. If you've 
been in a lime-juicer, you know that there one is 
considered a boy till he can show a pair of whiskers, 
and a man ever afterward, if he's as stupid as a 
donkey, and as lazy as a first class whaleman. 
This is sailor human nature. If it was not for the 
little whiskers I can raise about my face," — his 
features were barely discernible through a most 
enormous black beard — "I should have to fight 
these fellows every day of my life." 

"All except the Portuguese," added he, "they are 
a good sensible set of fellows, who mind their own 
business, and act upon the square in everything." 

"Wait till I have a beard," thought I, with an 
internal vow, that when that blessed epoch in my 
history arrived, I would assume and assert, at all 
hazards, all the dignity and prerogatives of mature 
manhood. 

"Meantime, Charley," said my new friend very 
coolly, "handspikes, applied about the shins of 
those who prove troublesome to you, will be found 
an excellent substitute for hair on your chin." 

In such talk we passed away very pleasantly a 
couple of hours, I meanwhile regaling myself upon 
the contents of a jar of most delicious tamarinds, 



''THERE SHE WHITEWATERS!" 139 

which Ben had brought up for my use. After the 
long and wearisome insipidity of salt junk and 
biscuit, bean soup and duff, the lively acid of the 
preserved tamarinds was most refreshing ; and 
during our conversation I "stowed away" a large 
proportion of the contents of the jar before me. 
It was only when one of our Portuguese friends set 
another jar beside me, expressing at the same time 
a desire that I should "eat heartily, and give the 
ship a good name," that I was made aware that I 
was gormandizing. 

Our enjoyment was very suddenly brought to a 
close by a cry of " there she Whitewaters," from 
the masthead of the Betsy Ann. While upon a 
gamm, both vessels' mastheads are manned as 
though no visiting was going on, and upon a 
discovery of whales, under such circumstances, 
there generally ensues some, hard racing, and not 
unfrequently hard feeling. 

Every one was upon the alert in a moment, as 
the cry reached the deck. It was followed by the 
regular intonations of "there blows," convincing 
us that a school of sperm whales was in sight. 
Our boat's-crew at once gathered together upon 
deck, to hold ourselves in readiness for lowering. 
The mate, after watching our ship keenly a mo- 
ment, and satisfying himself by the unusual bustle 
on board, that the whales were seen from there 
too, came to us, and warned us that this time we 
should have to contend against four of the smartest 



140 WHALING AND FISHING. 

boats in those seas, and that it would not do to bo 
beaten altogether. 

We had already talked the matter over among 
ourselves, and determined to do our best, and not 
be beaten if we could prevent it. I think there 
was not one of our fellows that did not wish the 
whales in Tophet, or that did not already think 
of our crew as beaten. Nevertheless, " never say 
die while there is a shot in the locker," is a motto 
upon which we determined to act, and so each 
man gathered up his strength for the encounter. 

The Betsy Ann's crew, meantime, had been 
busied in preparations for lowering, ever and anon 
casting a meaning half-smile toward the spot in 
the waist where we had gathered together. They 
evidently feared not the result — they made sure 
of an easy victory over the greenies. 

The whales were nearly ahead, and when we 
should lower, would be about half a mile nearer 
to the Betsy Ann than to our vessel. "We had 
therefore the best chance, although the others had 
the weathergauge. 

When within a mile and a half of the school, 
the vessel was hove to. Every boat was instantly 
lowered and manned, and we at once stretched 
away for the whales. Our ship's boats had low- 
ered a little before us, and were coming down 
from the windward upon the whales, straining 
every nerve to get upon them before we should. 
We had scarcely pulled two hundred yards, how- 



ARRANGING A BATTLE FIELD. 141 

ever, when the fish suddenly put a stop to our 
racing by turning flukes. This gave us time to 
pull leisurely down toward the spot where they 
had disappeared beneath the waves, and here each 
boat-header now brought his boat to in such a 
position as he judged most favorable for the pros- 
pective " rising." 

The chase was so exciting that our old captain, 
leaving his fourth mate on board to work ship, 
had come in the boat, and was now urging us on 
to do our best, and " show these fellows that they 
had their match." 

All was now arranged. The eight boats lay in 
various positions ; all in the circumference of two 
miles. Our mate, and the mate of the Betsy Ann, 
had chosen the same spot, and although, as cour- 
tesy demanded, each had removed his boat some 
distance from the place we had both at first in- 
tended to occupy, yet the two boats were in most 
unpleasant proximity to each other, and we plainly 
saw that, did the whales rise in the vicinity, a des- 
perate race would be the consequence. 

" Pull your best, boys — but (to the mate) be 
careful of your boat — I would rather lose a whale, 
than have a boat stove, and perhaps two or three 
men hurt, Mr. Osborne," were the captain's final 
instructions, as he pulled off to take up a position 
in another part of the field. 

All was now silence. !N"o one ventured to speak 
above a whisper, fearing that the sound of his 
voice might drown the distant spouting of a whale. 



142 WHALING AND FISHING. 

In every face the most intense and anxious excite- 
ment shone forth. Oars in hand, sleeves and 
trowsers rolled up, feet firmly braced against the 
stretchers, and hats pushed down over our brows, 
we sat in grim silence, the compressed lips and 
flashing eyes of our crew plainly saying that we 
would not be beaten without at least a struggle. 

The fact is, the ironical smiles of our gamming 
acquaintances had stung us to the quick, and we 
were determined ' to show them that to beat us 
was not so easy as they chose to believe. 

Minute after minute, (and every minute seemed 
half an hour), passed away in anxious waiting, 
and yet no whales appeared. 

" So many boats in the water at once, gallied 
them, I guess," said Barnard, in a desponding 
tone of voice. He had wagered some tobacco 
against a lot of sperm whale's teeth, that if there 
were opportunity for a race, we would not be beaten. 

" There's a ripple," whispered the mate just 
then, and he gently laid the boat round. 

"And there blows, boys, pull your best!" he 
said, yet speaking only in a hoarse whisper. 

The whales were beyond our rival's boat, and 
she had therefore the advantage of us by half a 
dozen boats' lengths. Part of this was, however, 
lost again, by their negligence in not seeing the 
whales as soon as we did, and we had the boat 
fairly under headway, almost as soon as they were 
laid round in the proper direction. 

Now ensued a race, such as I never before or 



A RACE. 143 

since witnessed. We were yet about a boat's 
length astern. Both crews were pulling with all 
the strength at their command. 

At the measured strokes of the oars, the slen- 
der boats seemed almost to leap clear of the wave, 
and fly through the air. Their dull roll in the 
rollocks, their regular dip in the water, the rush 
of the boat's bow, as it came in contact with the 
waves, the quick, loud breathing of the men at 
the oars, and the half smothered voices of the 
boatheaders urging their respective crews on to 
renewed exertions, all proclaimed a race in which 
not only a fish, but the honor of the two ships was 
thought to be at stake. 

The whales were yet unaware of our approach. 
They were going slowly round in a large circle, 
as is often their habit, and their present course 
was of material advantage to us, as it forced both 
boats so to alter their course as in a short time to 
bring us abreast of our opponents. A whispered 
shout testified our appreciation of this advantage. 
But we had no breath to waste in shouting. 
Every bit was needed for the contest. 

" Will you halve the chances, Mr. Swain ? " 
asked our mate, seeing our present advantage, 
and yet feeling that withal, a new boat's crew 
might be beaten, and willing to make sure of 
half a whale, rather than run the risk of gaining 
none. 

"No," was the quick and somewhat haughty 



144 WHALING AND FISHING. 

answer, " every man for himself, and the devil for 
us all!" 

" Pull hard, hoys — hend your ash ! — lay to her, 
you devils! — strain your muscles!" urged the 
mate, in earnest whisper, as he himself pushed 
with might and main against the after oar. 

The whales had risen about three-quarters of a 
mile from where we lay awaiting them, and a 
much greater distance from any of the other 
boats, whose crews were now pulling after us, 
simply as witnesses to our race, and to be at hand 
in case of accident. 

" Pull hard ! " said our mate, glaring with blood- 
shot eyes upon the mate of the other boat. 

"Lay to your oars, men," urged that worthy, 
as he anxiously watched our boat, and found him- 
self unable to drop us. 

Meantime the steady click of the oars, and the 
rush of the boats through the water, filled every 
ear. 

£Tow we fast neared the whales. ]S"ow a huge 
spout seems to be uttered not a boat's length 
ahead. A motion of the hand upward, tells the 
boatsteerer to stand up. 

He peaks his oar. The boatsteerer in the other 
boat does the same. 

" Give way now, men, for your lives," urges 
the mate, still in a whisper. 

Both boats are aiming for the same whale, whose 
huge broadside lies exposed not three darts from us, 



THE RESULT. 145 

ISTow lie hears us. "Will he sound ? Iso ; but 
gallied for the moment he increases his speed. 

Hurrah, this gives us an advantage ! But so 
little that it still seems as though both must fasten. 

"Pull hard, boys," shouted our mate, now at 
the top of his voice. 

" One more stroke ! " 

11 Another ! ! " 

" And another ! ! " 

Each time intensifying his tones. 

Like shouts ring from the other boat. It is now 
plainly our -chance." 

-"Will you halve the chances, Osborne ?" asks 
the Eetsy Ann's mate. 

i: Xot if I know it," is the curt reply— a Pull, I 
tell you." 

" Grive it to him," he shouts in thunder -tones, as 
the boat brings up violently against the broadside 
of the whale, throwing; nearlv everv man out of 
his seat with the shock. " Back water, quick — 
stern all, I tell you," is the cry. as the whale 
slowly settles a little in the water, and then rap- 
idly strikes out with his flukes. 

To pitch himself into the bow. to tear a lance 
from its rest, to aim it at the whale's breast, now 
exposed, as the wounded beast lashes the water in 
his pain, and to send the slender rod to his life — 
all is the work of scarce a moment ; and when, a 
minute afterward, the whale rolls up to spout, 
the joyful shout of " there's blood," ringing over 
the sea. proclaims the end of the race and battle. 
10 



146 WHALING AND FISHING. 

Meantime, the disappointed mate of the Betsy 
Ann had gone off after another whale, which, for- 
tune favoring* him, he succeeded in killing a little 
before sun-set, after a tedious chase. 

" I'll beat you yet, on a fair race, Osborne," 
hailed he the next day, as cutting in, the two ships 
drifted near together. 

"Never mind the racing; we got the whale," 
was all the answer vouchsafed to this taunt. 

When done cutting in we separated, and each 
steering his own way, we saw no more of the 
!New Bedford man. 

Standing slowly along the African coast, we one 
day, nine or ten days after our rencontre with the 
Betsy Ann, sighted some low, thickly wooded 
islands, skirting the mainland, and forming with 
that a sort of rude road-stead. 

" Those are the Bazaroota islands," said the 
captain, as I stood at the wheel ; " I've heard them 
spoken of as a good place to obtain fire-wood, and 
as we shall need some before getting to any better 
place, I guess we'll drop in there." 

The glad tidings were soon known to all on 
board. The anchors were hurriedly loosened on 
the bows, the chains bent, and a few other prepa- 
rations made for bringing the ship to for a couple 
of days. In two hours we were in five fathoms 
water, about two and a half miles from the main- 
land, the islets lying at various distances, from 
half a mile to three miles from us. Here the ship 
was brought to. 



THE BAZAROOTA ISLANDS. 147 

The Bazaroota isles are situated in the Mozam- 
bique, at but short distances from the coast of 
Africa, as before said, and in about latitude 21° 
20' south, and longitude 36° 12' east. They con- 
tain much wood, and but very few inhabitants, 
both which circumstances contributed in the 
present instance to making them a favorite place 
of resort for our captain. 

"We sailed into the little bay about nine o'clock 
one morning, and after coming to anchor, furling 
sails, and clearing a place in the hold for the re- 
ception of the wood, placed axes in the mate's 
boat, and in her proceeded to an inspection of the 
facilities for cutting and boating off fire-wood, 
afforded by the different little islets. 

To cut a supply of wood for a whaling cruise, 
is a work requiring some days, and often even 
weeks, and it had been determined that the first, 
and if need be the next day likewise, should be 
devoted to a thorough inspection of the facilities 
of the place, in order that we might work at as 
little disadvantage as possible. 

Consequently we, the mate's boat's crew, had 
been ordered to prepare for a general cruise. "We 
provided ourselves with a store of bread and beef, 
filled the boat's breaker with water, spread our 
sail to the light breeze, and pointed the boat's 
bow toward the nearest island. Landing here, 
we found nought but a wilderness of low jungle, 
which was scarcely penetrable, together with a 
poor landing. "We examined three or four of the 



148 WHALING AND FISHING. 

islets, and having at last fixed upon a suitable 
place where to commence operations, were about 
to return on board, when the mate said, 

" Trim aft, Tom, there's a good breeze, fair 
coming and going, and we'll take a look at the 
mainland." Accordingly, the boat's head was 
laid shoreward, and we spread ourselves out at 
full length upon the thwarts, enjoying an unu- 
sual treat of some cigars which our chief officer 
had good-naturedly brought with him. 

When within about a mile and a half of the 
main land, we found the water shoaling, being 
then not more than three fathoms — eighteen feet 
— deep. 

"I saw black skin glisten in the sun just then," 
said the boatsteerer, who was aft, the mate having 
stretched himself upon the bow thwart to take a 
nap. 

"It was nothing but a puffing pig," said he 
drowsily. 

"There it is again, and no puffing pig either — 
nor porpoise — nor — no," said he with some degree 
of animation — "nor anything else that wears 
black skin that / ever saw before." 

This had the effect of rousing us up, every one 
casting his eyes ahead to catch a sight of the 
questionable "black skin." 

" There he blows ! " — " and there again ! "■ — " and 
over here too," said several voices in succession. 

"It ain't a spout at all, boys, let's pull up and 
see what is!" 



-FASTENING TO A STRANGE F I S H . 149 

We took to our oars, and the boat was soon 
darting forward at good speed toward the place 
where we had last seen the objects of our curiosity. 

"Stern all !" suddenly shouted the mate, as the 
boat brought up " all standing" against some object 
which we had not been able to see on account of 
the murkiness of the water, the collision nearly 
throwing us upon our backs into the bottom of the 
boat. As we backed off, an enormous beast slowly 
raised his head above the water, gave a loud snort, 
and incontinently clove down again, almost before 
we could get a fair look at it. 

"What is it?" was now the question — which no 
one could answer. • 

"Whatever it is," said the mate, whose whaling 
blood was up, "if it comes within reach of my 
iron, I'll make fast to it, lads — so pull ahead." 
We were again under headway, keeping a bright 
look out for the reappearance of the stranger. 

" There they are, a whole school," said the mate, 
eagerly, pointing in shore, where the glistening 
of white-water showed that a number of the 
nondescripts were evidently enjoying themselves. 
"Now boys, pull hard, and we'll soon try their 
mettle." 

" There's something broke water, just ahead," 
said the boatsteerer. 

"Pull easy lads — I see him — there — way enough 
— there's his back ! " — 

"Stern all! " shouted he, as he darted his iron 
into a back as broad as a small sperm whale's. 



150 WHALING AND PISHING. 

" Stern all — back water — back water, every 
man!" and the infuriated beast made desperate 
lunges in every direction, making the white-water 
fly almost equal to a whale. 

We could now see the whole shape of the crea- 
ture, as, in his agony and surprise, he raised him- 
self high above the surface. "VYe all recognized 
at once the Hippopotamus, as he is represented in 
books of natural history. 

Our subject soon got a little cooler, and giving 
a savage roar, bent his head round until he grasped 
the shank of the iron between his teeth. With 
one jerk he drew it out of his bleeding quarter, 
and shaking it savagely, dove down to the bottom. 
The water was here but about two fathoms deep, 
and we could see the direction in which he was 
traveling along the bottom, by a line of blood, as 
well as by the air bubbles which rose to the sur- 
face as he breathed. 

" Give me another iron, Charley, and we'll not 
give him a chance to pull it out next time." 

The iron was handed up, and we slowly sailed 
in the direction which our prize was following 
along the bottom. 

" Here's two or three of them astern of us," 
said the boatsteerer. 

Just then two more rose, one on either side of 
the boat, and in rather unpleasant proximity, and 
before we had begun to realize our situation, the 
wounded beast, unable any longer to stay beneath 
the surface, came up to breathe just ahead. 



A SNARL. 151 

" Pull ahead a little ; let's get out of this snarl. 
Lay the boat around — so — now, stern all," and the 
iron was planted deep in the neck of our victim. 
With a roar louder than a dozen of the wild bulls 
of Madagascar, the now maddened beast made for 
the boat. 

Backwater ! — back, I say ! Take down this boat- 
sail, and stern all ! Stern, for your lives, men ! " 
as two more appeared by the bows, evidently pre- 
pared to assist their comrade. He was making 
the water fly in all directions, and having failed 
to reach the boat, was now vainly essaying to 
grasp the iron, which the mate had purposely put 
into his short neck, so close to his head that he 
could not get it in his mouth. 

" Stick out line till we get clear of the school, 
and then we'll pull up on the other side of this 
fellow, and soon settle him with a lance." 

This was done, and as we again hauled upon the 
still furious beast, the mate poised his bright 
lance for a moment, then sent it deep into his 
heart. With a tremendous roar, and a desperate 
final struggle, of scarcely a minute's duration, our 
prize gave up the ghost, and after sinking for a 
moment, rose again to the surface, lying upon his 
side, just as does the whale when dead. 

His companions had left us, and we now, giving 
three cheers for our victory, towed the carcass to 
the not far distant shore. It was luckily high 
tide, and we got the body up to high water mark, 
where the speedily receding waves left it ashore. 



152 WHALING AND FISHING. 

When we here viewed the giant, and thought of the 
singular agility he had displayed in the water, we 
could not help acknowledging to one another that 
to get among a school of Hippopotami would be 
rather a desperate game. 

On measuring, we found our prize to be a few 
inches less than fifteen feet long from his head to 
the commencement of his short, hairless tail. "We 
could not measure his girth, but his bulk was 
enormous. Sis legs were disproportionately 
short, giving him, conjointly with his short neck 
and very large head, an awkward, stolid appear- 
ance, which the agility he displayed in the water 
by no means justified. His skin was very thick 
and very tough, and almost altogether devoid of 
hair. His head was shaped a little like that of an 
ox, but his mouth was very large, and furnished, 
aside from a set of stout grinders, with four tusks, 
two on each jaw, from ten to twelve inches long, 
which, together with a peculiarly dull, savage ex- 
pression of the eye, gave him a most wicked 
appearance. 

We had not been long on shore, when several 
natives made their appearance. They testified 
much joy at sight of our prize, and went through 
a most lively pantomime, from which we gathered 
that the beasts were a great plague to them, that 
the meat was good to eat, and that they would 
like a portion. The hint was not lost upon us, 
who had not tasted fresh beef for some six months. 

" What say you, boys, will you try a piece of 



HIPPOPOTAMUS STEAK. 153 

Hippopotamus steak ? " proposed the mate; and 
as no one dissented, we got the axes, and after 
considerable chopping and hacking, cut off the 
head, when we were enabled to cut ourselves about 
twenty -five pounds of what appeared to be toler- 
ably tender meat, off the fore quarter. 

"With this supply, and some tusks which the 
natives gave us, we proceeded on board to relate 
our adventure. Our steaks were cooked for sup- 
per; and whether it was that we were blessed 
with an unusually good appetite, that the cook 
excelled himself on that occasion, or that the meat 
was actually well flavored, certain it is that the 
steaks were delicious. 

We paid some further visits to the shore, but at 
the captain's orders, kept out of the way of the 
river-horses, as he did not choose to risk a boat, 
and perhaps her crew, where no profit was to be 
gained. We gathered from the natives that the 
Hippopotami infested the country about there in 
great herds, and often in one night destroyed all 
the rice fields in the neighborhood. We were 
shown two large pits, on the borders of a field, in 
which already several had been caught. These 
holes are dug by the natives with sticks and 
rough wooden spades. Sharp stakes are driven 
in the bottom ; the whole trap is covered over 
with boughs of trees and old wood, that it may look 
like part of the path which the beasts make in 
their daily peregrinations down to the water side, 
and it is complete. As the troop comes up from 



154 WHALING AND FISHING. 

the water after night, on an incursion, the leader 
generally falls a victim, to the ingenuity of the 
natives. But they, not having any weapons 
wherewith to despatch their huge prize, are obliged 
to let the poor beast starve to death in his narrow 
pit, securing thus naught but their revenge and 
the tusks, which last are valuable as ivory. 

Our curiosity had been aroused to see an entire 
herd coming up out of the water to go inland, 
and at the instance of the captain, a party of us, 
including him, armed ourselves and took up a 
position the next evening about si.nset, just on 
one side of what appeared to be their principal 
line of march, among a thicket of large trees. 
"We remained at our stations, in the dark, until 
about nine o'clock, listening with astonishment 
to the gambols of the unwieldly monsters in the 
water close to us. It had been proposed, (before 
coming on shore), to fire at the herd as they came 
past our hiding place, and our muskets were 
loaded with ball for that purpose. But the first 
signs of their coming put all firing out of our 
heads, and each one shrank back behind his tree, 
only too glad to escape their notice. The noise 
they made in coming on, was as though a tornado 
was sweeping through the woods. The roaring- 
was terrific ; the very earth seeming to tremble 
at the sound. Three of us, who had concealed 
ourselves behind an enormous tree, where we 
had been merrily boasting of how we would 
"pop down the Hippopotami," now shrunk close 



A BACK OUT. 155 

together, each one laying down his musket, ready 
for instantaneous flight. 

The creatures were evidently aware of our 
presence, for as they passed us they sniffed the 
air suspiciously, and breaking into a waddling 
trot, made the welkin ring with such deafening 
roars that for awhile it seemed as if all the beasts 
of the forest had joined in concert. When the 
troop was past and out of hearing, we crept out 
of our hiding places and hurried down to the 
boats, glad to escape without a battle, and per- 
fectly willing to leave hippopotamus hunting to 
those who were better provided for the sport 
than we. 



156 WHALING AND FISHING. 



CHAPTER IX. 

No WHALES-Tediousness of the Life — Expedients to kill Time 
—The Habits of Sperm Whales— Their Food— The Sperm 
Whale Squid — Its Arms — The Whale's Teeth, and how it is 
supposed that he uses them — Means of Defense possessed by 
Whales — The right Whale — The Humpback — Quickness of 
Motion of a Sperm Whale — Lowering in a Calm — Difficulty of 
approaching a Whale at such a Time — He Listens — Sudden 
disappearance — Chasing a Gallied Whale — Rainy Weather — > 
Bourbon — Determination to leave the Vessel at the first Op- 
portunity — The Coast of Madagascar — A Story of St. Mary's 
Shoal. 

In four days we completed our supply of fuel, 
and on the morning of the fifth after our arrival, 
once more set sail for the middle of the channel. 
Our last whale made us forty barrels ; we had, 
therefore, one hundred barrels of oil on board, 
which at so early a period of our voyage (we were 
not seven months out), was considered highly 
encouraging. Yet the time was beginning to 
hang very heavily upon our hands, and our expe- 
rience for a month and a half after leaving the 
Bazarootas — during which time we never saw a 
sperm whale spout — entirely disgusted me with 
the business. 

The captain proposed to go into port for refresh- 



HOW TO KILL TIME. 157 

mente, when we had three hundred barrels of oil 
on board, or in our eleventh month out from home. 
Meantime, however, we were ever in the vicinity of 
some shore. Land was plainly in view for days 
at a time. Either the blue mountains of Mada- 
gascar, or the flat, desert-like beach of the oppo- 
site African coast, were ever in sight. And thus 
we drifted along, day after day, with nought but 
the semi-occasional trick at the helm or masthead 
to excite the sluggish blood, and relieve the con- 
stant dullness of our monotonous lives. 

Ey this time I had read all the books in the 
ship — many of them treatises on mathematics, 
political economy, and other dry and unenter- 
taining subjects. With the lassitude inspired by 
our lazy life, even the spirit for reading had left 
me, and my mind refused to arouse to the consider- 
ation of an author. Card-playing I was long ago 
disgusted with. Sing, I could not. Stand at the 
masthead when it was not my turn, I would not. 
And so I, in company with two boatsteerers, took 
•to whittling as a last resort, and with the help of 
pieces of soft wood and sharp knives, we got 
through some weary days, and many feet of cedar 
plank. One resource the others had, of which I 
was deprived — they chewed tobacco ; and a quid 
engaged not only their jaws, but by sympathy 
their minds. 

I no longer wondered at the vacant stare and 
odd manners of the poor fellows on board the 
Betsy Ann. Their long confinement on board 



158 WHALING AND FISHING. 

ship, the entire absence of objects by the consid- 
eration of which their minds wonld be kept in 
a healthful state of excitement, the wearisome 
monotony of their every day life — were enough to 
crush any mind, however strong. I watched my- 
self with alarm, lest I too should be getting into 
that absent, awkward habit, And I determined 
that at the first port I would take my leave of 
whaling — not conceiving that I was bound to 
remain where I plainly saw that both mind and 
body would wilt away. 

Those of the crew who could sleep the greatest 
number of hours were, in these days, the happi- 
est. And as in all things else, so in sleeping, 
practice makes perfect : so that ere long some of 
my worthy shipmates thought no harm of devo- 
ting from thirteen to fifteen hours of the twenty- 
four to the god Morpheus. 

Meantime, I took advantage of the seasons of idle- 
ness, to gratify a desire, long entertained, to know 
all that is generally known of the habits of whales. 
Sitting upon the booby-hatch, whittling, I would 
ask questions of the boatsteerers, until they some- 
times declared me to be an arrant bore. The 
mates, too, were pressed into my service, and 
many a tough yarn, as well as many scraps of 
curious information, I gathered as the result of 
these random questionings. 

Sperm whales feed upon an animal known 
among whalemen as " squid," but which is, I be- 
lieve, a monster species of cuttle fish. These, 



SQUID. 159 

like their smaller congeners, cling to the rocks, 
the larger species of course, having their haunts 
at the bottom of the sea, while the smaller fre- 
quent only the shores of bays. 

Yery few men have ever seen an entire squid 
or sperm whale cuttle-fish, and I incline to the 
belief that most of the few instances on record, 
of their appearance at the surface, are apocryphal. 
Whalemen believe them to be much larger than 
the largest whale, even exceeding in size the hull 
of a large vessel ; and those who pretend to have 
been favored with a sight of the body, describe it 
as a huge, shaj>eless, jelly-like mass, of a dirty 
yellow, and having on all sides of it long arms, 
or feelers, precisely like the common rock-squid. 
This animal is no doubt the "kraken," of which 
old histories speak as having often borne down 
entire ships in their grasp, and as able to annihil- 
ate a fleet. 

The animal seldom exhibits itself to man; but 
pieces of the feelers are often seen afloat, on good 
whaling ground. I have examined such from the 
boats, and found them to consist of a dirty yel- 
low surface, beneath which appeared a slimy, 
jelly-like flesh. Of several pieces which we fell 
in with at various times when in the boats, most 
had on them portions of the "sucker," or air 
exhauster with which the common cuttle-fish is 
furnished, to enable him to hold the prey about 
which he has slung his snake-like arms. These 
floating pieces are supposed to have been bitten 



160 WHALING AND FISHING. 

or torn off by whales, while feeding at the bottom. 
Many of those we saw were of the circumference 
of a flour barrel. If this be the size of the arms, 
of which they have probably hundreds, each 
furnished with air exhausters the size of a dinner 
plate, what must be the magnitude of the body 
which supports such an array? 

The teeth of a sperm whale, which are found 
only in the lower jaw, are conical in shape, coming 
to a round dull point at the end. They set in 
the gum in such a position as to hook backward, 
and can be moved in their sockets by the hand. 
Nevertheless they are very firmly fixed, having 
to be drawn by means of tackle. Experienced 
whalemen suppose them to be used principally 
to tear loose their prey from the rocks. The 
sperm whale has a tolerably capacious gullet, 
which is evident from the fact that sometimes, 
when about to die, he vomits forth pieces of squid 
larger than a barrel. 

There is I think, no more beautiful exemplifica- 
tion of the wisdom and foresight of the Creator, 
than is seen in the instinct and means of defense 
given to each of the principal species of the whale. 
The sperm whale has the power of seeing any 
object which approaches him from any point on 
his side, his eye, to this purpose, being placed at 
the end of his mouth, and nearly one-third his 
length from the beginning of his head. He can 
not however, see the approach of an enemy 
from right astern or right ahead. But here, 



THE RIGHT WHALE. 161 

Providence has placed his chief defenses. "With 
his huge flukes, he strikes perpendicular blows 
upon the water, or at any object which may annoy 
him there, while with his tremendous head, or still 
more fearful jaw, he destroys all which comes 
within reach. He has likewise an acute sense of 
hearing, although his outward ear is no larger 
than a pin-hole. 

The right whale, on the other hand, can not, on 
account of the peculiar conformation of his head, 
see any object either ahead or abreast of him, but 
distinguishes best that which approaches him from 
behind. To protect himself, therefore, against 
assailants whom he can not see, he is enabled to 
sweep with his tail or flukes from one eye to the 
other, thus rendering any approach to his body, 
from abreast, impossible or highly dangerous. 

The hump-back, who is but a poor mongrel, 
partaking of the nature of both sperm and right 
whale, invariably runs to windward on being 
attacked, and that with such velocity as to make 
pursuit almost useless. The only time when an 
attempt to take one of these fish is prudent, is 
therefore, in a calm. On such occasions the poor 
brute runs vainly round, snuffing for the breeze, 
and quickly falls a prey to his enemy — man. 

Sperm whales are now much scarcer than in 

years past, owing to the number of vessels which 

annually fit out from America and various parts 

of Europe, partly or entirely in pursuit of them. 

11 



162 WHALING AND FISHING. 

In times past, when they were not so continually 
worried and followed, they were much easier 
to approach, although often giving battle when 
attacked. "Now, however, the utmost care is 
required to u get on " as it is termed. The slightest 
noise causes them to disappear with marvelous 
celerity. 

Though so vast and apparently unwieldy, the 
motions of a sperm whale are sometimes almost 
inconceivably quick. 

We had left the Mozambique Channel, and 
slowly sailed down the eastern coast of Madagas- 
car, toward the Isles of Bourbon and Mauritius. 
It was on a beautiful calm Sunday morning, that the 
masthead-man raised a large sperm whale, about 
three miles off. An hour's close watching con- 
vinced the officers that he was feeding, and was 
entirely unsuspicious of our presence. At the end 
of that time he turned flukes, and we lowered, 
and pulled up to what we thought the most 
advantageous spots to await his rising. A nice 
little breeze had by this time sprung up, and we 
set our boat sail, determining to sail on to the 
whale, should he come up near us. 

The whale remained beneath the surface nearly 
an hour, an evidence that he was a large fish. We 
had begun to think he was gone off, when he 
spouted about quarter of a mile from us, and in 
such a position that our boat, which was immedi- 
ately ahead of him, was the only one that could 



WHALING IN A CALM. 163 

approach, him unperceived. The others remained 
still, while we pulled aft the sheet, and let the boat 
run down toward him. 

The sea was quite smooth; there was just 
enough ripple to drown the noise of the boat, and 
scarcely sufficient breeze to fill our sail. The 
whale was slowly forging ahead, his hoarse deep- 
toned spout sounding strangely over the quiet 
waters. We were over twenty minutes making 
our way to him. In this time, having nothing to 
do, all eyes were directed to the motions of the 
fish. 

He came blindly on, that part of his head show- 
ing above the water, giving one the idea that he 
had been sawed square off in front. He did not 
advance in a direct line, but made a number of 
little alterations in his course, evidently for the 
purpose of guarding against an enemy in any 
direction. Every few minutes, too, he would stop 
altogether, and cautiously lift his head out of 
water, expressing the action of listening for a 
noise, just as plainly as it could be expressed. 
Hearing nothing, he would again advance on his 
course. 

The length of time we consumed in our ap- 
proach, as well as the extreme caution necessary 
on such a quiet, calm day, made it a scene and 
time of great excitement to us all. "We were 
gradually but surely n earing him. Now the mate 
raised his hand, a signal to the boatsteerer to 
seize his iron. We were sitting on our thwarts, 



164 WHALING AND FISHING. 

but in the excitement of the moment, everything 
was forgotten in watching the motions of the fish. 
On he came, blindly and unsuspectingly rushing 
to his death. We were already within two boats' 
lengths of him. But now he stops suddenly. 
He listens a moment, but again proceeds. We 
think ourselves already fast, when the boatsteer- 
er whispers, 

" Let them pull a good stroke — I fancy the 
whale knows we're here." The mate shook his 
head ; we were almost within dart, and he would 
not risk it. Now he heaves his head out of the 
water again. 

"Heave your iron into him!" shrieks the 
mate. 

The boatsteerer darts his best — but too late. 

Even as we looked, and without any motion 
other than that slight toss of the head, the whale 
disappeared from our sight. 

" That's magic," said one of the boat's crew. 

To me, so sudden was the act, it seemed just as 
though the vast mass had been suspended in 
space, and the suspensor had been suddenly cut 
asunder. 

Now came the labor of the day. The whale 
was gallled — that is to say, frightened. He was 
aware of our presence, but with a perversity com- 
mon to sperm whales under such circumstances, 
would not at once abdicate the ground. From 
the time of his lightning-like disappearance — 
about noon — till sunset, our four boats chased him; 



GALLIED WHALES. 165 

and never at any time, except when he sounded, 
was he more than three ship's lengths off. 

His course was a huge circle, many miles in 
circumference. His speed was just such as to 
keep our boats at a safe distance. I could not 
help giving the wretched animal credit for great 
intelligence, for the ingenuity with which he kept 
up the ardor of our pursuit, without permitting 
himself to be caught. When he sounded, he kept 
up his usual headway, and on his regular course, 
so that by pulling as hard as we could for three 
quarters of an hour, in the hope to get fast the 
next rising, we would find ourselves, when he re- 
appeared, at just the same distance astern of him 
that we were when he was last seen. At sunset 
we were obliged to give up the chase, and returned 
on board, wearied and hungry. We had after- 
ward several long chases after gallied sperm- 
whales, always without effect, and invariably led 
by the nose, as it were, by the whales keeping but 
little ways ahead of the boats, holding out contin- 
ual hope that we might, in a moment of un wari- 
ness on their part, get fast, and gain a prize. 

The eastern coast of Madagascar is an unpleas- 
ant whaling ground, on account of the constant 
rains which prevail there. Part of the day is 
generally fine ; but seldom an entire day passes 
without a rain squall, and not unfrequently, when 
cruising near the land, the rain lasts day and 
night for a week. The weather, withal, is un- 
comfortably cool, and on shipboard, where it is 



166 WHALING AND PISHING. 

sufficiently difficult to keep dry under the most 
favorable circumstances, great discomfort ensues. 

But rainy weather is made no account of in a 
" spouter." If whales are seen, the boats are 
lowered in the middle of the most violent squall. 
Sundays and rainy days are no holidays in the 
whaling service. 

When our cruise, however, extended over toward 
Bourbon and the Isle of France, we had again 
delightful weather. One day we sighted Bour- 
bon, and sailed close into the land, in order to ex- 
amine thoroughly for whales. The island is very 
mountainous, and has, lying as it does in the track 
of the Trades, a weather and lee side. It was the 
lee side which we now approached. I never in 
my life saw a more enchanting country. In the 
distance were the blue mountain peaks, thrown in 
uncouth volcanic masses against the sky. In the 
foreground was a narrow strip of beach, dotted 
with white houses, peeping forth from umbrageous 
groves. And rising above these, was the hill side, 
every inch of which, for miles, was in the highest 
state of cultivation. Here were the plantations 
of sugar, coffee, cloves, and tobacco. Each field 
was bordered by neat rows of coffee trees, be- 
tween which ran the streets. The whole appeared 
in the most perfect order, and the scene, viewed 
from a distance of a mile at sea, was enchanting 
beyond description. It was like the realization 
of a dream of Arcadie. 

The reader can easily imagine the feelings with 



BOURBON. 167 

which we sailed past so beauteous a land without 
being permitted to place our feet on its shores. 
For an entire week did we cruise around this de- 
lightful isle, never more than five miles from its 
bold shores. It was a torture fit for Tantalus. 
And I vowed that let me once get my foot on 
shore, any where, I would bid good-bye to a ser- 
vice in which such treatment was considered le- 
gitimate. The balance of our crew were also 
dissatisfied, and longed to have a run over the 
beautiful land so long in view. Even the boat- 
steerers grumbled. But the captain gave us 
plainly to understand that before we had three 
hundred barrels of oil on board, we need not ex- 
pect a run ashore — " and even then," added he, 
coolly, "you need not expect to go ashore on 
Bourbon." 

Thought I, let me get ashore once, and Til take 
care of the balance. 

On standing over toward Madagascar again, 
after a fruitless search for whales, we one day fell 
in with a £Tew London vessel, the James Rodgers, 
the captain of which proposed to our captain that, 
as sperm whales seemed to be scarce, and it was 
just the season for humpbacking, we should make 
a joint expedition to one of the bays in Madagas- 
car, " "Where," said he, " from my former experi- 
ence, I know we'll get some fish." 

Our captain liked the idea, and it was agreed 
that we should cruise for a week in company, 
looking for sperm whales, and if none were in 



163 WHALING AND FISHING. 

that time seen, the two vessels should proceed 
into the bay of Antongil, on the north-east coast 
of the island, and try for humpbacks. 

The James Eodgers had been out a year, and 
had done tolerably well. She was now just from 
the coast of 2s"ew Holland, where they had " hump- 
backed and sperm-whaled it," so the crew said, 
" until all hands were worn out." 

They seemed to dread the bay whaling. But 
we, to whom it was something new — no one but 
our skipper having ever been at it before — thought 
it rather a good idea — particularly as by its 
means we should have an occasional run on shore. 
At the expiration of one week of trial, both ves- 
sels were headed to the north, and the crews were 
informed that we were now bound on a humpback 
cruise. 

Meantime we were again in the rainy climate. 
Every day it rained. For days the sky is leaden 
and gloomy, the clouds being apparently sur- 
charged with rain. The winds, too, are shifting 
and squally, while water-spouts are constantly in 
sight. Little harmless ecldywinds, which cause 
the spouts, may be seen starting ivp and sailing 
along in all directions. Sometimes the ship is 
beset with them ; the foresails get the benefit of 
one breeze, while the after sails are filled with 
a quite different and contrary one. On the fore- 
castle a torrent of rain will be falling, while the 
quarter-deck and poop are perfectly dry ; and 
sometimes, the top-gallant-sails will be filled with 



MADAGASCAR. 169 

a strong breeze, while not a breath stirs the lower 
sails. The nights are dark as Erebus, even the 
fall moon being able to send only occasionally a 
fitful gleam through the dull opaque clouds. The 
days are gloomy and dispiriting, being made up 
of alternate squalls of rain and wind. Such is 
the eastern coast of Madagascar — a most uninvi- 
ting cruising ground. 

It was while making our way toward Antongil 
Bay that, on one dark, gloomy day, the captain 
sent several men aloft, to look out for shoals. He 
was himself, at the same time, continually start- 
ing into the rigging, and peering anxiously about 
with his spy-glass. We did not judge ourselves 
near the land, and had therefore some curiosity 
to learn whether any shoals could be seen. 

" It seems to me that there are some breakers 
on the lee bow, but I can see nothing for the sea 
to break against," sung out the mate, who had 
"been sent aloft to look out. 

" That's it — where away on the lee bow is the 
surf?" 

" About four points." 

The vessel was kept away a little, and as there 
was quite a breeze, we were soon able to see from 
the deck a long line of white, where the sea broke 
upon the edge of a huge sand-bank. 

The bank itself, owing to its color, we could not 
see till we were closer in. It was a dreary and 
wo-begone place, and a sight of it prepared me to 
appreciate the tale of horrible cruelty which is con- 



170 WHALING AND FISHING. 

nected with it. The bank is about two miles long, 
by half a mile wide, and apparently lies just above 
the water's edge. With a stiff top- gallant breeze, 
such as we had, the surf did not break entirely 
over it, but it would have required but a slight 
increase of wind to force the breakers over the 
shallow barriers. The low, dull roar of the surf 
seemed a funeral dirge over the graves of many 
poor fellows who have here struggled for the last 
time with death. JSTot a tree or shrub, not even 
a blade of grass, could be seen on the entire bank; 
nothing but sand and breakers. 

As I thought how easily, even in broad day- 
light, a vessel might run upon this hidden dan- 
ger, lying, as it does, just in the track of ships 
bound to some of the ports of Madagascar, and 
as I thought further how hopeless would be 
the fate of those who should be shipwrecked here, 
an inward prayer arose that such might never be 
my fate. 

u That's a bad place to get on," said the old man 
to me. 

" Yes, sir." 

" There's a story told of this St. Mary's shoal, as 
it is called, that makes me shudder every time I see 
the cursed place. Some ten or a dozen years ago, 
slavers used occasionally to get a cargo on this 
east coast, all the vigilance of the French and 
English cruisers to the contrary notwithstanding. 
There was then a slave factory at Nos Beh, (now 
a French settlement on the northern extremity of 



st. mary's shoal, 171 

Madagascar). A sliip having on board seven hun- 
dred poor slaves, in making her way from IsTos 
Eeh to the southward, got upon this shoal. It 
was happily in the day time, and although the 
vessel was wrecked, they had time to release the 
poor blacks, and with their help to catch a supply 
of provisions and water from the various articles 
which floated ashore from the wreck. They built 
themselves rude huts upon the highest part of the 
bank, and here remained, waiting for a passing 
vessel. 

"Day after day, however, passed away and no 
succoring ship hove in sight; and they saw with 
dismay their supply of provisions, and particu- 
larly their water, getting low. In this emergency, 
a new thought entered the minds of the whites. 
On the adjoining coast of Madagascar, at a dis- 
tance of about seventy-five or one hundred miles, 
is located the French settlement and fort of St. 
Mary's. They could make a small raft of the por- 
tions of their ship which had drifted ashore, and 
with this steer to the mainland, taking advantage 
of a favorable breeze. 

"To procure the assent and aid of their black 
victims to this plan, they promised them most 
solemnly to send a vessel to their help immedi- 
ately on their arrival in St. Mary's. But, scoun- 
drels as they were, the thought had already 
struck them that by informing the French author- 
ities of the presence, upon the shoals, of these 
slaves, they would get themselves into trouble ; 



172 WHALING AND FISHING. 

and so they concluded to make their own way 
safely, and leave the blacks to their fate. 

"The raft, after infinite trouble, was built. A 
large share of the remaining water and provis- 
ions were placed on it, that the whites might be 
sure to reach the shore, and then, bidding the poor, 
slaves "good-by," and assuring them of their 
speedy return with aid, they spread a sail to the 
breeze, and were soon out of sight. What long 
days of agonized expectation the poor blacks 
passed upon that bleak shoal ; how, gradually, as 
it were hour by hour, hoipe died from their breasts ; 
how, as their little remnant of provisions failed, 
they began to die off, and how the survivors, 
brought to the last extremity of suffering, were 
obliged to subsist upon their deceased friends ; 
how anxiously they peered across the wild waste 
of water which surrounded and threatened to 
engulf them, and how each sun rose upon a fresh 
accumulation of the dead and dying — all this was 
told by the one lone survivor of six hundred who 
had landed upon the bank. A St. Mary's coaster 
passing by the shoal, saw upon it some signs of a 
wreck, and approaching nearer, was able to dis- 
cover the forms of men lying about upon the 
sand. Effecting a landing at the risk of their 
lives, they found but one poor Madagassy left 
alive, and took him with them. It was found, 
afterward, that the wretches of the raft, fearful 
that mention of their companions in misfortune 
would get them into a French prison, told a story 



st. mart's shoal. 173 

of having been in a leaky vessel, ana abandoned 
her at sea, and stated that they were the last rem- 
inant of the sufferers. 

As the captain told me this story, the long, low 
shoal was just astern of us, the surf was still boom- 
ing in our ears, and a shudder of horror ran 
through me at such wanton barbarity and heart- 
less selfishness. 



174 WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER X. 

Something further concerning the habits of Whales — The 
Humpback — Their liability to Sink when dead — Antongil 
Bay — Our Anchorage — The denizens of the Jungle — Our first 
Whaling day — A Word concerning the Weather — Actions of 
Whales— Close of the first Day— The Night— Another Del- 
uge — We get fast — The Whale spouts Blood — Tenacity of 
Life — Towing a dead Whale — Cutting-in — Trying out — A 
" Cow and a Calf" — Strong affection of the Mother-Whale — 
How Whalemen take advantage of this— The Calf is killed — 
The Sharks eat up our Whale — Scaring a Humpback — Its 
Results. 

A few days after seeing the St. Mary's shoal, 
and hearing its story as related in the last chapter, 
we sailed into Antongil bay. This is a large inlet 
on the east coast of the island of Madagascar, in 
about latitude 16° south, and longitude 50° east. 
It is over fifty miles deep, and about twenty-five 
miles wide at the mouth. At the bottom of this 
extensive bay, and under lee of a small island, 
our two ships were brought to anchor, and here 
it was determined we should remain at least a 
month, to try for humpbacks. 

The females of these whales, as well as of the 
right whale, frequent bays and shallow waters 
yearly, when their time of calving comes on, to 
drop their young, remaining in the smooth waters 



HUMPBACKS. 175 

until the young leviathan has gained strength 
sufficient to shift for himself on the broad ocean. 
These occasions are taken advantage of by whale- 
men, and great numbers of the old fish are slain 
annually in the many unfrequented bays of Africa 
and South America. 

Whalemen assert that the sperm whale mother 
also approaches the land to give birth to her 
young, but her haunts have, I believe, never 
been discovered, and this is, therefore, more a 
probability gathered from analogy, than an ascer- 
tained fact. The right whale mother is very care- 
ful to choose a retired and unfrequented roadstead 
for the scene of her maternal labors, and bays on 
the eastern coast of Africa which were formerly 
noted as the annual resort of great numbers of 
these animals, have been altogether deserted by 
them shortly after the whalemen got among them. 
The humpback, however, the most stupid of 
whales, clings obstinately to the place it has once 
chosen, and thus numbers of these fish are annu- 
ally taken in the great bays of 'New Holland, 
Madagascar and Africa. 

When this species of whale is met with at sea, 
it is seldom thought worth lowering after, for the 
reason that it is exceedingly hard to kill, runs to 
windward at great speed on being struck, and 
generally sinks when killed. When a dead fish 
sinks at sea (and this sometimes occurs with right 
whales as well as hump backs), he is of course 
lost. In soundings however, the case is different. 



lib WHALING AND PISHING. 

The whale is anchored, and a large buoy is left to 
mark his place under water. The progress of 
decay evolves certain gasses in his body, which 
being lighter than the water, raise the body to 
the surface; and once there, it is again taken 
possession of by its captors. 




A SPEEM "WHALE. 



As in the bays of tropical countries the strong 
sea breeze generally alternates with a mild and 
genial land breeze, the humpback in running to 
windward does not so often get beyond reach of 
his pursuers, and although hard to kill, generally 
falls a prey to a good whaleman, when struck 
during the prevalence of the land wind. 

As we sailed down the great bay, the waters 



OUR ANCHORAGE. 177 

seemed alive with whales. It was evidently the 
hight of the season, and we congratulated ourselves 
in advance, upon the havoc we should make among 
the fish. At the bottom of the bay was a small 
island, about three miles in circumference. In a 
sheltered nook on the lee side of this island, we 
brought our ships to anchor, under the direction 
of the captain of the James Eodgers, who had 
been here before. Having safely moored the ves- 
sels, we unbent the light sails, and made other 
preparations for a lengthy stay. 

Having fixed upon a convenient landing place 
on the shore, we rolled up our empty water casks, 
to be filled before going away. Here too, a tent 
was erected, in which the armorer and carpenter 
could work, and under shelter of which the crew 
could rest when ashore. 

The island, which consisted of a high mountain, 
bordered by a narrow strip of beach, was covered 
from the waterside up with a dense mass of trees 
and undergrowth, forming an impenetrable jungle. 
This jungle, so said the captain of the James 
Eodgers, was inhabited by a few wild cats, or 
leopards, and numerous nionkeys and flying foxes. 
It was infested likewise, as we afterward found, 
with great numbers of serpents of various kinds, 
but chiefly by a species of anaconda, some of which, 
that we killed, were fourteen feet long. 

On the day after our arrival, our whaling duties 
began. We were called out at half past four 
o'clock in the morning. The cook having been 
12 



178 WHALING AND FISHING. 

roused at four, had our breakfast in readiness, and 
after devoting fifteen minutes to this, " lower 
away " was shouted, and all hands were immedi- 
ately called into the boats. It was of course not 
yet daylight, but we at once stood for the lower 
part of the bay, which being with the morning 
land breeze the extreme windward, was the scene 
of our primary operations. 

After pulling away about three quarters of an 
hour we began to hear whales — some breaching, 
some making the white- water fly, others under 
headway, and spouting with a loud metallic sound, 
very closely resembling the puffing of a Mississippi 
steamboat. It was not yet quite daylight. The 
rain — it had rained ever since we lowered — was 
pouring down in torrents, the air was chilly, and 
when not pulling, we sat shivering in the boat, 
the water running from our clothes, much as 
though we had been standing under a Brobdig- 
nagian shower-bath. 

At six o'clock it was fairly light enough to 
work. On taking a survey of the ground, we 
found ourselves at the entrance to a little bight of 
the shore, about a mile deep, at the bottom of 
which some whales were seen disporting them- 
selves in the rain, which they evidently enjoyed. 
It had been arranged that our eight boats, (the 
Jas. Eodgers was a four -boat ship), should cruise 
in parties of two. Our partner was the third 
mate of the Eodgers. Hailing him, a short con- 
sultation was held, the result of which was a 



V 
A WHITE-ASH BREEZE. 179 

determination to pull into the bight, and try the 
fish we there saw. The other boats, meanwhile, 
were posted on different parts of the ground, each 
two choosing for themselves a special portion, and 
paying exclusive attention to the whales they 
found there. 

"We spent the entire forenoon in a fruitless 
chase of the humpbacks, who seemed to dodge 
the boats with the utmost ease, and while appa- 
rently not attending at all to our movements, took 
care never to come within dart of our irons. 

They had none of the regularity of the sperm 
whale, and their motions, unlike his, could not bo 
counted upon. The land breeze was very weak, 
for which reason we were obliged to use the oars, 
and substitute what whalemen call a " white ash 
breeze," (in allusion to our oars being generally 
made of that kind of wood), for the natural air. 

About twelve o'clock we took a little rest and 
ate our dinners, consisting of sundry biscuits, 
interlaid with pieces of salt junk. Up to this 
time none of the boats had succeeded in getting 
fast, much to our disappointment ; for when on the 
previous day we saw how numerous were the 
whales, we had imagined it to be henceforth an 
easy and every-day matter to kill them. Shortly 
after dinner the sea-breeze set in. At the first 
puff the whales were thrown into the greatest 
excitement, and snorting louder than ever, started 
for the mouth of the bay. 

"We could now use our. sails, and made haste to 



180 WHALING AND FISHING. 

pnt them up. With the breeze came in a very 
disagreeable chop sea, which made pulling straight 
to windward except for short distances, almost 
impossible. It was therefore necessary to beat to 
windward under sail, and thus try to head off the 
whales. In this we did not succeed — nor was any 
one of the boats that day so fortunate as to get 
within dart of a whale. 

The rain ceased at about eleven o'clock, a. m., 
and the sea-breeze, clear and bracing, soon dried 
our bodies and our clothes, so that by the time we 
returned on board, at four o'clock, no change of 
dress was necessary. After our return, we took 
a short run on shore, killing within fifteen min- 
utes after landing, three serpents, each over eleven 
feet long. They lay at the edge of the woods, 
coiled up neatly, and apparently stupefied. They 
made no resistance, but displayed the usual snake- 
like tenacity of life. 

Supper at five and bed at six, finished one of 
the most disagreeable and unsatisfactory days we 
had passed on the voyage. 

Meantime the officers held a council, and ar- 
ranged the programme for the morrow, which 
differed, however, in nothing from that of the day 
past, but that we should go closer in shore, as 
it was there the cow whales would most probably 
be found with their young. Orders were at the 
same time given, not to fasten to a bull whale 
until the sea-breeze set in, when, as the fortunes 
of the day would by that time be pretty well 



"THE GREAT RAIN." 181 

decided, any one was at liberty to strike what he 
could get on to. This restriction was rendered 
necessary by the fact the male humpback invari- 
ably runs on being struck, and moreover, turns 
out for his size a much smaller quantity of oil 
than the female. 

I fell asleep, earnestly hoping that it would rain 
no more while we remained here, and anticipating, 
from the beautiful starlit and cloudless sky with 
which I had regaled my eyes before going below, 
that to-morrow, at any rate, would be a fine day. 
At ten o'clock — four bells in the first watch — I 
was called out to take an anchor watch, and on 
proceeding to the deck, found the sky of a leaden 
color, not a star visible, and everything looking 
as though "the great rain" was about to set in. 
At eleven o'clock, the skies opened, and it began 
to pour down in such sheets and masses as can 
only be witnessed in the tropics ; and thus it con- 
tinued without intermission until eleven o'clock 
.the next day, when the sea-breeze set in, the sky 
became clear, the air once more bracing, the sun 
shone out cheerily, and nature resumed her Sun- 
day look. 

At five a. m.j when we lowered, the rain was 
pouring down in such torrents that one man 
was obliged continually to bail rain water out of 
the boat ; while we could not see two ship's lengths 
ahead through the sheets of water. The yester- 
day's maneuvers — pulling to the bottom of the 
bay, there sailing about when the breeze would 



182 WHALING AND FISHING. 

favor us, making vain attempts upon whales, who 
only spouted at us. as it were, in scorn, and finally 
striking out for the outer bay, as with the strength- 
ening sea-breeze the whales made off in that direc- 
tion — all these motions were repeated, but again 
without success. Not a boat had the good fortune 
to get fast, and we returned on board, at four 
o'clock, much dispirited, and wearied with fruit- 
less toil. After going on shore, trying to kill a 
monkey, of which animals however but few 
showed themselves near the beach, and killing 
two more snakes, one fourteen feet in length, 
we ate supper, and with every promise of a beau- 
tiful day on the morrow, deposited our tired bodies 
in the berths. 

These two days were fair samples of the duty 
we performed during our stay here of over a 
month. Every morning, without a single excep- 
tion, it rained in torrents; and every morning, 
without a single exception — ("no Sundays in ten 
fathom of water," say whalemen) — precisely at 
five o'clock we started out and chased whales until 
the sea breeze became too strong, or the whales 
had all disappeared to windward. 

We took six whales during our stay, one of 
which was completely eaten by ground sharks, 
with which the bay seemed at times alive. 

It was on the fourth day after our arrival, that 
our boat got upon the track of a whale who 
seemed disinclined to get out of our way. He 
had dodged us for half a dozen risings, coming up 



A LAZY WHALE. 183 

in unexpected places, and lying quite still till we 
were almost upon him, when suddenly he would 
disappear, only to show himself perhaps in the 
very spot from which he had before started. The 
mate at last, wearied with chasing him, concluded 
to remain quite still and notice his maneuvers. 
For several risings we watched him very closely, 
and at last, with his suspicions apparently lulled, 
he came to the surface not half a dozen boat's 
lengths off. 

To lay the boat around and pull for him, might 
and main, was the work of but a few minutes. "We 
were upon him before he was aware of our pres- 
ence, and with a loud hurrah, the boatsteerer 
planted an iron in his back. 

No sooner were we fast, than three other boats, 
which had been cruising in the vicinity, came to 
our aid. The whale, after sounding — an operation 
which did not amount to much in ten fathoms 
water, ran a little ways, and then stopped, evidently 
at fault, and snuffling for the breeze. Now he 
would dart in this direction, now in that, now 
north, now south, now east, then west. But it 
was just then a complete calm, and he made no 
headway. 

Of course we took advantage of his motions to 
ply our lances, and in a very short time had the 
satisfaction to see him spout blood. 

Now when a sperm whale spouts blood, it is 
an evidence that death is at his door. But we 
were to learn that day that a humpback does not 



184 WHALING AND FISHING. 

die so easily. The sea-breeze set in just as the 
whale began spouting what we thought to be 
thick blood. With the first puff of wind he 
seemed to revive, and gathering new energy, 
darted off seaward, at the rate of six or seven 
miles per hour, dragging with him of course our 
four boats. 

We now experienced another peculiar trick of 
the humpback. A sperm whale will sometimes 
run under water, but has at any rate the merit of 
keeping straight on his course. Our prize, as he 
proved after a long-continued effort at escape, 
would spout once, then turn flukes and run along 
the bottom, till it became necessary again to 
breathe. Then another spout, another toss of his 
flukes high in the air, as though the water had 
been a mile deep and he were bound to touch bot- 
tom, and another race along that bottom. 

This course was continued till repeated lanc- 
ings and great loss of blood had exhausted him. 
Of course, his short stay at the surface made it 
extremely difficult to lance him properly. We 
were compelled to haul so close to him that when 
he turned flukes, the broad tail often grazed the 
boat's bows. Had it been a sperm whale, this 
would have been exceedingly dangerous play, but 
our humpback plainly thought of nothing but 
running. For an hour he kept up his first speed. 
By that time, however, he was tiring, and his pace 
moderated. 

JSTow two boats would work upon him at once, 



TOWING A WHALE. 185 

and sometimes the officers could set their lances into 
his body. Clotted blood and pieces of liver and 
lnngs were now spouted up continually, yet the 
obstinate beast retained strength to drag us 
through the water. Four hours, from ten till 
two, Ave worked upon him, and when, at two 
o'clock, he finally expired, he was actually un- 
der headway. We were lancing him, when he 
gave a little start and suddenly turned over, 
heaving his long fin out of water, and with a 
slight quiver died. By this time we were nearly 
twenty miles from the anchorage, and had now 
before us the disagreeable task of towing our 
whale to the vessel. After waiting a short time, 
to see if he would sink (which in this case did 
not happen), lines were fastened to various parts 
of his body, and we began towing him landward. 

" Why don't you tow him tail first," I asked of 
one of the boatsteerers, " that seems to be the 
smallest end." 

"That plan has been tried, but was not found 
to answer so well. He seems to have been de- 
signed to go head first, and that is the easiest way 
to tow him." 

We were shortly joined by the other boats, and 
were then able to make headway at the rate of 
about three miles per hour, with th.e aid of a stiff 
sea-breeze. Do what we would, however, we could 
not keep our whale heading as we wished. His 
body seemed to fit naturally in the trough of the 
little sea that was on, and thus he lay, spite of 



186 WHALING AND FISHING. 

our most strenuous efforts. We were obliged to 
tow him sideways for nearly the entire distance. 

It was one of the most tedious and straining 
undertakings I have ever assisted at. Hour after 
hour we tugged at the oars, our progress so slow 
that we scarce seemed to gain any. My heart 
sank as I thought that every whale we took would 
have to be brought alongside in just this way. 

It was eleven o'clock that night ere we had our 
whale moored alongside. I was never more ex- 
hausted in my life. Some of the hands were 
downright sick. The following day six boats' 
crews remained to cut in, while our captain, leav- 
ing the fourth mate on board, went down in com- 
pany with the captain of the Jas. Eogers, to try his 
fortune. They returned empty-handed, just in 
time to see the last blanket-piece going into our 
blubber room. 

The operations of cutting in and trying out are 
of course much better and easier done in harbor 
than at sea. All the labor is lightened by the 
steadiness of the ship, and there is at least a bare 
possibility of keeping clean. Two boats' crews 
were left on board the following day to try out, 
the rest of us going off as usual at five o'clock, in 
the rain. 

We, of the mate's boats' crew, were quite proud 
of having gotten the first whale in the bay, and 
determined to distinguish ourselves again if pos- 
sible. But on that day the fates favored the sec- 
ond mate of the other vessel. Sailing close in to 



A COW AND CALF. 187 

shore in the lower part of the bay, he saw a cow 
and calf, and pursued them. The cow whale 
could easily have gotten away, but would not 
leave her little one. She tried every expedient to 
quicken its progress, first bearing it on her flukes, 
then taking the little thing between her fin and 
body, and when she found this useless, placing it 
before her to push it along with her nose. 

But all was vain. The mate pulled up, and by 
way of making sure of the mother, who had just 
gone down, put an iron into the calf. 

Soon as the mother came up, she was fastened 
too, and in a few minutes was spouting thick blood. 
By this time we were upon the spot, ready to ren- 
der assistance. 

The mother whale seemed solicitous only about 
her calf. She would fondle it with her huge snout, 
and push it along before her. She would get 
between it and the boats, to keep it out of harm's 
way. She would take it down with her, knowing 
that on the bottom was the safest place. But here 
the little one could not obey her. It was forced 
to come up to breathe at least once every two 
minutes, and by this means, even had we not been 
able to tell by the strain of our lines, we knew 
at all times where away was the old whale. 

Never did mother, of whatever species, display a 
more absorbing affection for her young than did 
this whale, and there was scarcely one in the pur- 
suit, but felt as though we were taking a dishonora- 
ble advantage of her. 



188 WHALING AND FISHING. 

It was soon discovered that we could urge the 
little calf in any direction, by gentle touches of 
the lance, and accordingly we forced it and its 
mother with it, to take a course leading toward 
the ships. For two hours we continued lancing 
her, and as she spouted blood nearly all this time, 
we were satisfied she must soon die. 

But now — we were scarce half a mile from the 
vessels — the sea-breeze came in, and as she felt it, 
new life seemed to enter the whale. She again 
tried to push her young one ahead, and finding 
this useless, and that we took occasion meantime 
to ply her with lances, she suddenly turned upon 
the boats. 

Six boats were now gathered about her. "When 
a boat would approach her, she would whirl 
round and dash at it with her flukes. "With, her 
long sword-like fins (a sixty barrel humpback's 
fins are at least twenty-five feet long, and shaped 
like a broadsword), she kept us off her sides ; and 
by running continually around in a small circle, 
she got our various lines so fouled that we began 
to fear we should have to cut from her and fasten 
afresh . 

The sea, too, was getting very high, and it was 
disagreeable to work about a whale. At this time 
one of the boats pulled up to try a lance. It was 
a long dart, and instead of striking the w T hale, the 
lance glided into the little calf, which was lying 
snugly along her side. 

"With a weak puff the calf turned over and 



KILLING A CALF. 189 

sank. The mother seemed to know in a moment 
what had happened. She followed it to the bot- 
tom. After making several circuits about it, as 
we guessed by the motions of our lines, she again 
rose to the surface, but this time with nose pointed 
to the windward. 

"Now we'll have to take it, Charley," said the 
boatsteerer to me. 

And sure enough, she dragged us off against 
the wind, and through a most uncomfortable sea, 
at the rate of four or five miles per hour. 

It was sunset before she brought to again, and 
then we were eleven or twelve miles from the 
ship. The wind was very strong, but fortunately 
for us, she had dragged us under the lee of a small 
headland, and the sea was not so violent. 

Here she stood at bay. But there were so many 
boats, that while some would engage her attention 
and her flukes, with which she defended herself, 
others would approach from ahead and lance her. 
With all this, however, it was long after sunset 
before she finally "rolled fin out." 

"We could not of course tow her down that 
night, and as one of the boats had a small kedge 
stowed in the bows, the whale was brought to 
anchor. First we put irons into various parts of 
her body, with which to lift her in case she sank. 
Next, the anchor was dropped, and a small cable 
made fast to the whale's flukes, and finally, anchor 
and whale were buoyed with a drug. 

It was ten o'clock ere we got on board this night, 



190 WHALING AND PISHING. 

and the way from the whale to the ships was very 
unpleasant, the night being as dark as pitch, and 
the sea very high. The following morning all the 
boats were mustered together, and we pulled for 
our whale. Arrived upon the spot, which we 
easily recognized by the bearings of the land, we 
found no buoy. The whale we had hardly 
expected to find — knowing she would sink. After 
a search of an hour, we found our drug, and taking 
from it the lines, disposed ourselves in the boats 
so as to weigh the whale. 

It has been found that if, where a whale has 
sunk, sufficient force can be brought to bear upon 
him, to start his body from the bottom, it will 
continue to ascend, and when it once gains the 
surface, will not again sink. 

"If we don't lift our whale, the ground sharks 
will eat her," was the captain's reason for haste. 

The first tug we gave at the lines brought every 
iron up from the bottom. Some had pieces of the 
entrails, others patches of the blubber adhering to 
the barbs, and it became at once evident that the 
sharks had been beforehand with us, and had 
eaten off the outside, of blubber, before we arrived. 
"With many a muttered curse, "not loud but 
deep," we gathered up our lines, anchor and drug, 
and departed. 

During the week following this loss, we captured 
two whales, both cows with calves, and both made 
prey by taking advantage of their strong affections 
for their young. Care was taken after this how- 



A STARVED CALF. 191 

ever, not to kill the young calves, "as it was a 
useles waste of life," so said the mate of the 
Eodgers, "and besides had a tendency to excite 
the cow whale." 

I thought it would have been the part of mercy 
to kill the calves after dispatching the mother, 
inasmuch as they were not yet old enough to get 
their own living, and would most likely starve to 
death. 

As we were pulling about in the lower bay one 
morning, a great white-watering attracted our 
attention. Some suggested that two whales were 
fighting, others that a school were enjoying them- 
selves. But on approaching the object of our curi- 
osity we found it to be a little bull humpback, one 
of those inveterate runners whom we scarce ever 
cared to attack, endeavoring to drive off one of 
the calves whose dam we had killed several days 
before. The little thing had become half starved, 
and was endeavoring to find the wherewithal to 
satisfy its hunger. As it approached the whale, 
he would wheel round and strike at it with his 
flukes, sometimes hitting, but oftener missing it. 
His short loud spouts showed clearly that he was 
in some consternation, and did not quite understand 
the maneuvers of his troubler. 

The captain of the James Eodgers, who was 
an old hand at humpbacking, had informed us 
that when chasing a bull humpback, if we could 
get so close upon him as that he could not turn 
flukes, we could easily get fast, as then he would 



192 WHALING AND PISHING. 

remain at the surface; and further that at such 
times by hallooing, hooting, beating tin pans and 
blowing fog-horns, the whale would become so 
terrified as to be unable to move. We had one 
opportunity to put this to trial, but met with a 
species of success which discouraged any farther 
attempts of this kind upon the fish. 

We had started two whales from under the 
land, and for several hours were pulling after them, 
with some hopes of catching up with them, as 
they seemed to go off in a straight line, and at no 
greater speed than we could ourselves make by 
strenuous exertions. "We were alone, our partner 
boat having gone off in chase of another whale. 
The whales slacked their speed a little, and 
encouraged by this, we rushed the boat upon them, 
shouting and hallooing at the top of our voices, 
the mate bringing into requisition a conch shell 
of formidable dimensions, from which he blew a 
most ominous toot-toot. 

One whale made his escape, but the other 
became in a manner paralyzed from fright, and lay 
still upon the water, moving his great flukes 
slowly up and down, but making no headway. 

'-Stand up, you sir, and don't you miss that 
whale," shouted by the mate apprized us that we 
were upon him. 

" Give it to him ! " and at the word Barnard, 
who to use the mate's language, "would have 
struck the whale had he been sure he would have 
struck him back the next minute." darted his iron, 



A SCARED WHALE. 193 

and almost with the same motion leaped over- 
board. 

If the whale was before paralyzed with terror, 
the first touch of the iron gave back to him all his 
powers, and quick as a flash an immense pair of 
flukes came down on the boat's bow, cutting off 
about three feet of it nearly as smoothly as though 
it had been sawed off. 

Had the boatsteerer not jumped overboard, he 
would have been instantly killed. I, who sat 
next him, was thrown overboard by the shock, the 
boat filled, and had not the iron fortunately drawn, 
we should have been in a mess of trouble. 

As it was, all hands quickly got into the stern, 
by which means the boat's bow was raised out of 
the water; and thus we were able to paddle stern- 
foremost to the ship, a distance of over two miles. 

That was the last time we tried the plan of 
scaring a humpback. Had there been time for the 
exercise of a litte prudence, we could have gone 
on easily without being stove. Eut our boatheader 
was an excitable man, and at this time as on a 
former occasion, lost all command over himself 
and rushed the boat to certain destruction. 



13 



194 WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER XI. 

Antongil Bat, continued — Whaling near Desolation Island — 
Teddy — A Character — Sea-Lions — How they are Captured — 
Tannanarivou— A City on a hill top — The Natives — The 
Scurvy — Burying a Man — Nearly a Ghost Story — The Cook's 
opinion of Ghosts — Attempts at explanation, meet with no 
Favor — The Result — Preparing to leave the Bay — Our first 
and only Holiday in the Bay — A Tour of Exploration — Dis- 
turbing an Ant's nest — Flying Foxes — We proceed to Sea. 

To relieve the monotony of our rather dreary 
life in the bay, we frequently visited each other's 
vessels. / found much to amuse me on board the 
James Eodgers. They had been three years from 
home, cruising during that time mainly on the 
coasts of Ceylon and 'New Holland, and had some 
singular adventures to relate. One of the crew, 
moreover, had made a voyage to the Isle of Des- 
olation, a place of great resort for sea-lions and 
seals, as well as right whales, and as he had a 
wonderful facility in spinning yarns, and was, 
withal, obliging enough to talk for us by the hour, 
several of our own crew spent all our leisure time 
on board the Eodgers. 

Teddy, so he was called, was a genuine Yankee 
boy; and about as ugly and good natured a speci- 



TEDDY. 195 

men of mortality as one could expect to meet with 
in so out of the way a place as a whale ship. He 
was the self-constituted hero of numberless adven- 
tures, which he could impart in a manner entirely 
his own, never thinking of concealing personal 
defects, and laughing as heartily at his own mis- 
haps as those of any one else. 

Teddy had served an apprenticeship to whaling 
in the cold regions of Desolation, and was not, 
therefore, remarkable for personal cleanliness or 
neatness. He gave it as his deliberate opinion, 
that too much washing was deleterious to the 
health, besides involving an unnecessary waste 
of time. His clothes, which were patched even 
beyond the mark of whalemen in general, pre- 
sented a variety of hues which reminded one of 
Joseph's coat of many colors; they fitted him with 
a studied awkwardness which could not fail to 
attract attention from the most casual observer, 
and excited in me most unbounded admiration. 

"With his ill-fitting and well-patched shirt, his 
scraggy head of fiery red hair overhanging his 
face, and thin whiskers of the same color, which 
he was used to say required a drum and fife to 
marshal them together, Teddy put one very much 
in mind of the little rough-haired Scotch terriers, 
so famous as ratters. So striking was this resem- 
blance, that I was led one day to ask him if he 
had ever followed the business of rat- catching. 
With a huge grin, such as only Teddy could 



196 WHALING AND FISHING. 

assume, he answered, no : that there was not 
enough oil to be gotten out of a rat to make such 
a business pay. 

Desolation, or Kerguelen's Land, by which last 
name it is most generally known, is an island in 
the Indian ocean, in about latitude 49° 30' south, 
and longitude 70° 10 v east. It is a sterile, dreary 
spot, uninhabited, save by seals, sea-lions, and 
penguins. It lies entirely out of the track of 
merchant vessels, and is little visited even by 
whaleships, the ship in which Teddy had made a 
voyage thither being one of but two or three that 
had at that time made it their exclusive headquar- 
ters for a year or two at a time. 

From Teddy's yarns, I gathered that all the 
various species of seals abound there at certain 
seasons of the year, and that right whales had 
found here likewise a retreat in which they were 
comparatively little disturbed. 

It appears that on her arrival at the island, the 
vessel was securely anchored in a snug harbor on its 
leeward side. All the empty casks, and a great 
proportion of the stores, were now landed, and 
placed in huts constructed for the purpose. Try- 
works were also set up on shore, and all the ope- 
rations of killing, skinning and trying-out were 
rendered thus as little laborious as possible. The 
sea-lions at regular intervals during the day 
ascended the crags and steeps with which the 
shore was lined for miles around, and were on 



HUNTING SEA-LIONS. 197 

these occasions attacked and slain in great num- 
bers. The weapon of attack was a stout lance 
fixed to a short hickory pole. 

At early daylight, said Teddy, the labor of 
filling casks and cleaning fur-seal skins began. 
About nine o'clock the boating parties were started 
off for the appointed scene of labor. They pulled 
or sailed along shore until they discovered the 
seals, then moored their boats, and dividing them- 
selves in parties of two, proceeded to the slaughter, 
which it was necessary to accomplish as silently 
as possible. 

Teddy confessed that the first time he ap- 
proached an old lion, for the purpose of lancing 
him, he was in great bodily fear. 

" As I approached," said he, " the beast gave 
an awful roar, and lifting up its ugly head, snap- 
ped viciously with its jaws, plainly showing me 
that if I got into its clutches once, it would go 
hard with me. I had received due caution against 
approaching it from beneath, as in such cases the 
•animals are wise enough to roll over on their at- 
tacker, and thus overcome him. 

" There was, however, no time for considera- 
tion. My lion was before me, and the mate was 
watching me from a distance, to see that I suf- 
fered no damage. So I ran up, man fashion, and 
plunged my lance into his breast, just as he was 
preparing to roll over the rocks into the sea. 
Luckily, the first stab settled him, and with a 



198 WHALING AND PISHING. 

loud hurrah of suddenly gained confidence in my 
own abilities, I jumped on to attack another." 

After killing as many as they could carry off 
that day, the work of skinning and lugging the 
"blubber-lined hide to the boats began. Here two 
worked together. As the beasts were duly di- 
vested of their hides, a hole was cut in the center 
of each. A hide being now lifted up, one's head 
was inserted through the opening, the mass of 
blubber hanging about him something after the 
fashion of a Spaniard's poncho. In this guise, 
with the filthy oil dripping from every pore, he 
now scrambled over rocks and declivities, down 
to the boat, in which the load was deposited, 
while the bearer returned to repeat the operation. 
It was in this business that Teddy had contracted 
his aversion to water, taken externally, as a 
purifier. 

"As an internal remedy," said he, one day, in 
discussing its merits, " a very little water, mixed 
with good whisky, is not at all objectionable." 

Of relating his mishaps with sea-lions, Teddy 
never tired, and, to own the truth, neither did his 
auditory ever tire of him. There might have been 
more intellectual amusement, but under the cir- 
cumstances, there could have been none provided 
of a more enlivening nature. 

When we first entered Antongil Bay, all hands 
congratulated themselves in advance upon the 
pleasure of an occasional ramble ashore, never 



HOSTILITY OP THE MADAGASST. 199 

imagining that there could be such a totally inac- 
cessible place as proved the island under lee of 
which we were moored. When a ramble through 
the thick jungle of the island was found imprac- 
ticable from the impenetrability of the woods, as 
well as dangerous from the exceeding abundance 
of serpents, of which we killed some every day, 
although never advancing inland beyond the im- 
mediate beach, we began to cast longing eyes upon 
the shores which we every morning approached 
in pursuit of whales. 

In the far distance, at the top of a high hill, we 
could discern a city, seemingly, of considerable 
dimensions, while in the vicinity of the beach at 
various points, herds of the large hump-cattle of 
Madagascar grazed. Here, thought we, must cer- 
tainly be a fine country ; and I know not what 
wild plans flitted through my brain, of clandes- 
tinely leaving the vessel, and taking up my abode 
with the natives for a time. 

All these ideas were, however, scattered to the 
winds by the unmistakeable enmity exhibited 
toward us by the natives, upon an attempt on our 
part to effect a landing upon the mainland. It 
was from the first apparent that we were watched 
right jealously, parties of the natives, spear in 
hand, often following for hours any of the boats 
that chanced to be cruising near the land. We 
had not tasted fresh beef since leaving home, and 
although warned by the officers of our partner 
ship that we would be unsuccessful in any attempt 



200 WHALING AND FISHING. 

to purchase some, our captain and mate one day 
boldly steered for the shore, at a point which 
seemed like a good landing, determined to hold 
some kind:' of parley with the natives. Quite a 
number of these were gathered together, awaiting 
our approach. 

As we got within hailing distance, one, evi- 
dently an officer, for he had on the tattered re- 
mains of an officer's dress coat, the epaulettes 
being the most conspicuous object about him, 
asked in broken French what we desired. 

The mate, who spoke French, answered in that 
language, stating that we desired to obtain a bul- 
lock, that we had some articles of trade in the 
boat, and that our captain would be pleased to 
open regular communications with the natives, 
and purchase of them such articles of food as they 
chose to sell. 

He was answered by a warning that if ever we 
touched the shore, we would be massacred ; and 
that the Queen of the island had sent strict orders 
to the coast, that no communication whatever 
should be held with strangers. JSTo trade could 
therefore be permitted, and he advised us to be 
careful how we approached the shore, as the Mad- 
agassy were bent upon showing no mercy to such 
unfortunates as fell into their hands. 

Thus were all our hopes of fresh beef and a run 
ashore at once disappointed. 

As yet there were not among our crew any 
signs of scurvy. In fact, we had been but a short 



BURYING A SCURVY PATIENT. 201 

time without potatoes, the greatest anti-scorbutic, 
the supply we obtained at Tristan de Acunha 
having with proper management lasted us till we 
entered Antongil Bay. Eut of the crew of the 
Jas. Rodgers, several were beginning to exhibit 
evidences of the disease, in their swollen limbs and 
dilatory movements, and one poor fellow was 
already confined to his berth. 

When it was found that there was no hope of 
obtaining fresh provisions from the shore, it was 
determined to bury this man, a mode of cure which 
is practiced only in extreme cases, but which gen- 
erally proves successful — having this disadvan- 
tage, however, that where it does not cure, it kills. 

A little shed was built on shore, beneath which 
a hole was dug in the ground sufficiently large to 
contain the sick man in a sitting posture. In this 
he was placed about ten o'clock one morning, 
when the rains had ceased unusually early. The 
ground was then loosely thrown about him, until 
he was covered up, leaving nothing but the head 
exposed. He remained here until sunset, when 
he was taken out and conveyed to his berth on 
board, in a state of great exhaustion. In a few 
days he regained strength sufficient to walk about 
decks, and by dint of care in matters of diet, he 
was in a few weeks able to return to his duty. 
Not, however, without bearing about him the 
marks of the disease, in several bunch-like gath- 
erings of the muscles on his legs and thighs, known 
among seamen as scurvy-marks. 



202 WHALING AND FISHING. 

It was but a few days before we left the bay, 
that a singular incident occurred, which, had the 
succeeding circumstances been only more favora- 
ble, would have given rise to a veritable and most 
undeniable ghost- story. Many such, I dare say, 
rest on a less plausible foundation. 

The humpback is in many regards a fish of very 
singular habits, differing in great measure from 
those of any other species of the whale. Among 
his oddities is one which those of us who daily 
labored in the boats had soon gotten used to, but 
of which the ship-keepers knew nothing. A 
whale would sometimes get under the boat, at 
such a depth below the surface that the crew were 
entirely unaware of his presence, and there utter 
the most doleful groans, interspersed with a gurg- 
ling sound such as a drowning man may be sup- 
posed to make. The first time I heard these 
sounds it was almost incomprehensible to me that 
they could proceed from a whale. But close 
watching of their motions convinced us all that 
they were the true authors. 

So little noteworthy had the matter been thought 
after its cause was explained, that it was not a 
topic of conversation on board, and so it came 
about that our ship-keepers were left in entire 
ignorance of the imitative powers of the hump- 
back. 

One morning about eleven o'clock, when the 
boats were all on the daily cruise, and but half 
a dozen men on board each ship, our steward 



A GHOST STORY. 203 

happened into the forecastle, and was there star- 
tled by a most unearthly groan. Thinking that 
his ears were deceived, he listened intently for its 
repetition, and was soon gratified. A moan as of 
one in terrible agony, he said, issued from the 
berth of the present writer. Two jumps carried 
him safely to the deck, where he at once informed 
the cook of what he had heard, declaring his firm 
belief that the ship was haunted. 

The cook laughed at the to him funny idea, and 
thought a ghost must have but poor taste, to come 
into this outlandish j>art of the world. The stew- 
ard, however, related his story to the ship -keepers, 
and asked them, to make assurance doubly sure, 
to step into the forecastle in person, and regale 
their ears with the mysterious noise. Accord- 
ingly, all hands (only three, the other three being 
at work ashore), descended to the haunted region. 

They had scarcely entered, when the groans 
were repeated with even more horrible emphasis 
than before. "With hair erect, and elongated faces, 
they listened sufficiently long to vouch that the 
dread sounds proceeded from no where else but 
my berth; and then, overcome with terror, rushed 
to the deck, seized the jolly boat, and took refuge 
on board our partner ship. 

The black cook alone remained on board. He 
scorned to run from anything that could only 
groan, and having satisfied himself that there was 
no tangible cause for the noises, in or about my 
berth, quietly busied himself about his galley, 



204 WHALING AND FISHING. 

thinking, as he remarked to me afterward, that " if 
it was really a ghost, and it did the poor thing any- 
good to groan, he had not the slightest objection." 

In a short time the sounds could be heard upon 
deck, and then they gradually died away, until 
presently quiet was restored, and the affrighted 
fugitives returned to the vessel. 

" It is a ghost or spirit, that's certain," assevera- 
ted the steward, who had told the captain of it, 
already before the latter got out of his boat. 

" If you talk to me of ghosts again, stupid, I'll 
put your head in a bucket of water," was the 
reply. 

This threat put an effectual stop to the dissemi- 
nation of spiritualism in the after part of the ship ; 
but meantime, our ship-keepers had laid their 
experience before the forecastle, the story of course 
gaining fresh horrors with every recital. The 
case was so plain — even the cook, who laughed at 
the whole matter, having to own that he heard 
the sounds, and that they were marvelously like 
human groans — that most of our greenhorns soon 
became devout believers in the immediate pres- 
ence of a spirit in our midst, and the poor Portu- 
guese, whose nature it was to be superstitious, 
turned a sickly yellow, and began to shake in their 
boots. 

Having heard the matter duly discussed, I ven- 
tured to suggest that it was clearly a humpback 
that made the mysterious noise. This was treated, 
however, with that degree of scorn which is 



A VERITABLE GHOST. 205 

usually bestowed upon any reasonable explanation 
of a ghost story. My scornful laugh was severely 
frowned down, and I was informed by one of the 
wiseacres that the groans having evidently come 
from my berth, and no where else, portended some 
unheard of accident to myself. So eagerly does 
ignorant humanity swallow the most egregious 
humbug, if there is only something supernatural 
about it, that of the sixteen men who had proba- 
bly heard the same groans dozens of times in the 
boat, not one could now be convinced, by reason 
or ridicule, that those in question owed their ex- 
istence to a natural cause. 

I found myself regarded as a doomed man ; and 
certain of the more friendly disposed privately 
advised me to prepare my mind for the approach- 
ing calamity, and even offered to share their berths 
with me, not considering it prudent that I should 
sleep in the haunted bed. If my excellent ship- 
mates before cordially hated me for my unsocia- 
ble spirit, they were now doubly bitter against 
me on account of my present doubts; and one 
poor fellow went so far as to impugn my faith in 
the existence of a Deity, on the ground of my 
scepticism on the subject of ghosts. 

I joined with the cook in laughing at their fool- 
ish fears, (which, by the way, procured me the 
present of a huge piece of pie from that worthy, 
who declared me to be a "good fellow"), and 
slept soundly as ever before in my haunted bed- 
place. 



206 WHALING AND FISHING. 

The ghost was the staple of conversation next 
morning at breakfast, and prophesies were freely 
made that before sundown that day, our boat 
would be stove, and I would be severely injured, 
if not killed. Fortunately for my credit, not an 
accident occurred during the remainder of our 
stay in the bay. Had I been in the slightest 
degree injured, or even had our boat been stove, 
as was prophesied, this would have formed a 
well authenticated ghost story, and I should no 
doubt have been held up to future generations of 
whalemen as a melancholy example of stubborn 
unbelief. 

Having now captured six whales, and the sea- 
son not having proved nearly so propitious as had 
been hoped, there being comparatively few cows 
and calves in the bay, it was determined that we 
should divide the oil and proceed on our cruise. 
Our share of the proceeds amounted to one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven barrels. We finished 
stowing down and clearing up on a Saturday 
night, and as we had kept no Sunday for the past 
six weeks, the two captains determined that the 
following day should be a holiday. 

And never was one more needed. Day after 
day we had toiled at the oars, amid rain and wind 
and cold, until we were completely exhausted in 
body and sj>irit. It was given out on Saturday 
night that there would be no call of " all hands " 
on the following morning. Accordingly, I arose 
at nine o'clock, a much more comfortable hour 



A SABBATH IN MADAGASCAR. 207 

than half past four, and after eating breakfast, 
began the day by a thorough wash and a shave, the 
latter more as a means of cultivating my dilatory 
and impatiently longed-for beard, than from any 
real benefit to be derived from the operation, in 
appearance or feelings. 

Having donned a clean suit, a real luxury, and 
set fire to a cigar which I found in a corner of my 
chest, I set out for the shore, in company with 
two Portuguese, determined on a tour of explo- 
ration. We had armed ourselves with boat-hooks 
and clubs, to kill the serpents which we should 
doubtless meet on the way, and now set out in 
high spirits. Unluckily, I was unable to wear 
boots, on account of sore feet, obtained by constant 
immersion in water, in the boats. So after pene- 
trating a few rods into the jungle, I was compelled 
rather unwillingly to return to the beach. 

My companions, who proceeded, did not fall in 
with anything during half a day's ramble, but 
half a dozen serpents, and a lemon tree. They 
brought down their hats full of cooling, delicious 
lemons, which were soon turned into lemonade. 

Meanwhile, the time hanging rather heavily 
upon my hands, I was tempted to a closer ex- 
amination of a large ant's nest, which was pen- 
dant from the bough of a tiee near the waterside. 
Climbing up this tree, I was shortly within reach 
of the nest, but had no sooner laid hands on it, 
with the design of plucking it off, (it was a mass 
as large as half a barrel), than its irrascible tenants 



208 WHALING AND FISHING. 

issued out against me in innumerable swarms, and 
before I could drop myself down from my eleva- 
tion, I was completely covered with the vicious 
creatures, all in a fever of rage, and stinging me 
to the best of their abilities. 

To pull off my loose shirt was the work of a 
moment. In the next I was in the water, and my 
assailants were swimming helplessly about me. 
This adventure, which procured me a few harm- 
less stings, satisfied any lingering desire I might 
have entertained, to examine the interior economy 
of an ant's nest. After walking about the beach, 
killing a water snake, picking wp a few harp 
shells, and basking for a while in the genial sun, 
I returned on board, utterly disgusted with Mad- 
agascar. With the exception of the lemons found 
by the Portuguese, we saw nothing eatable on the 
smaller island. JSTone of the fruit trees generally 
so plentiful in the tropics, were here to be seen, 
and I doubt if a day's journey through the dense 
jungle would have produced aught but snakes, of 
which there seemed a sufficiency to colonize all 
Ireland. 

A little party was made up, while I was engaged 
with the ants, to explore a huge, nearly barren 
rock, lying at a distance of about five miles from 
our mooring place, and between ourselves and the 
mouth of the bay. This in our daily whaling 
excursions we had noted to be the resort of innu- 
merable flying foxes. I came back too late to join 
the expedition, but learned from them that they 



FLYING FOXES. 209 

found the birds (?) flown. They saw nothing, 
therefore, but traces, in broken branches of trees, 
etc., of their nightly resort thither. The captain, 
however, shot one of the foxes before the day 
was over. It was a black animal, with a head 
more like a bat than a fox, very sharp teeth, and 
long claws, and of about the size of a small fox. 
At a regular hour each day, between ten o'clock 
and twelve, the whole flock which frequented the 
rock, took a flight over to the mainland, a distance 
of perhaps eight miles. They moved in a solid 
mass, like a flock of birds, and at a distance would 
certainly have been taken for birds. 

The following day, (Monday), to the joy of 
every one, we got under weigh and stood out of 
the bay, bidding it adieu with a hearty determin- 
ation never to return. 



14 



210 WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER XII. 

St. Mary, Madagascar — Applying for Liberty — It is granted — 
Sickness Ashore — The Town and Fort — Two Men remain over 
night — They are taken sick and die — An Auction — Reflec- 
tions — The Seychelles — Plans for leaving the Vessel— We raise 
a School of Whales — How a dead Whale makes headway 
against the Wind — Striking a Finback — "There blows" — 
The excitement of " going on to " a Whale — Fast and Loose — A 
Whale's Revenge — The Boat Stove. 

On getting clear of the land once more, the ship 
was headed to the southward, and the rumor soon 
got afloat that the captain intended running into 
St. Mary's, a French colony on the eastern coast 
of Madagascar, about two days sail from the mouth 
of Antongil Bay. The third day thereafter, hav- 
ing in the meantime seen no whales, both ships 
entered the harbor of St. Mary's. The town, or 
settlement, and fort lie upon an island separated 
by a narrow strait from the main island. 

This is known among w r halemen as the most fatal 
place upon the entire coast, for whites ; but it is 
the only place on this part of the coast where 
fruits and vegetables are obtainable, and is, there- 
fore, frequently resorted to by whaleships. 

On coming to anchor, all hands proceeded aft, 



LIBERTY. 211 

to ask the captain for a run ashore during our 
stay. Hereupon he made us a little address, stating 
that he was quite willing to grant the required 
liberty, but telling us at the same time that while 
those who returned on board before sunset would 
run no risk of catching the fever, so surely would 
those die who remained on shore over night, that 
he should refuse to receive them on board the fol- 
lowing morning, considering them as certainly 
dead. 

This sounded like humbug to some of the crew. 
But I had been warned against going ashore in 
this place, by the carpenter of the Betsy Ann, 
which vessel had lost here three of her men at one 
visit. I detailed the information I had received, 
to the rest, after we had retired to the forecastle, 
and convinced them, as I thought, that the cap- 
tain's words were at least founded on fact. 

I could hardly blame the disbelief of some, for 
the shores past which we had been sailing during 
the day, were so beautiful, and everything ap- 
peared to our rain-accustomed eyes so resplendent 
in the genial sunlight, whose like we had not felt 
for two months, that it was hard to believe grim 
death to lurk in every glade and hummock of the 
shore. Yet so it is. St. Mary's is unhealthy even 
to the natives, and I was informed that the Euro- 
pean portion of the garrison, notwithstanding the 
greatest precaution and skill, is annually decimated 
by the deadly coast fever. 

To seamen, used to take but little care, and 



212 WHALING AND FISHING. 

scorning, in their robust health, all precautionary 
measures, one night's stay ashore is in nearly 
every case fatal, as was sadly proved by two of 
our crew, who were so fool -hardy as to overstay 
their time. 

Taking all things into consideration, although 
I very strongly desired to leave the vessel, I con- 
cluded not to expose my life here. Life, thought 
I, is about all I have at this time to lose, and this 
I had rather part with to better advantage and on 
a more inviting occasion. 

As our stay was to be short, we had but half a 
day's run ashore, one watch taking the forenoon, 
the other the afternoon. This gave us time only 
for an inspection of the barracks, a short ramble 
along the shell-strown beach, and a bargain with 
the natives for a quantity of cocoanuts and 
bananas. 

The privates of the garrison are all natives, 
sepoys, while the officers and musicians are 
Europeans. The town is separated from the gar- 
rison by a little arm of the sea; and at the water- 
side here, on the garrison side, are some huge 
storehouses, containing naval stores for the French 
squadron stationed in those waters. St. Mary's is 
visited by but few vessels. It was formerly a 
place of call for French Indiamen, but we were 
told that it was no longer so. A few whalemen, 
and an occasional French or English cruiser, with 
half a dozen bullock droghers, are the only ves- 
sels that enliven its harbors. 



MALARIA. 213 

The French have made more persistent efforts 
than any other nation for the colonization and 
conquest of Madagascar, but their success has 
been marvelously inproportionate to their efforts. 
And their failure is not owing to the resistance of 
the inhabitants, although these have always hated 
and harrassed the foreigner; but almost entirely 
to the prevalence all along the seacoast of the 
island, of a deadly malaria, to which nearly every 
European resident sooner or later falls a prey. 
Grim death himself keeps guard at the portals of 
this fertile island. 

Those who had " liberty " in the forenoon, 
returned on board in due time, laden with shells 
and fruit. Directly after dinner we of the lar- 
board watch were set ashore, where we amused 
ourselves in various ways till half an hour before 
sunset, when all but two of our number rendered 
themselves on board. These two had determined 
to spend the night ashore, all our remonstrances to 
the contrary notwithstanding. 

The following morning, as we were getting 
under way, they came alongside in a shore boat. 
As they approached the vessel, the captain hailed 
them, asking what they wanted. They were now 
ready to come on board, said they. 

" I have marked < deceased ! ' opposite your 
names on the muster roll. I consider you dead 
men. I can not refuse to let you come on board f 
but would rather you would stay ashore." i 

They protested that they were in excellent 



214 WHALING AND FISHING. 

health, and felt not the slightest ill effects from 
their night's exposure. 

" I will give you your clothing if you will stay 
on shore." 

But they had no desire to be left behind, hav- 
ing learned how little chance there was to get 
away from the place, and harboring no wish to 
starve on shore. So they were permitted to come 
aboard, and turned to their work as though 
nothing had happened. 

" They'll die before three days are over," said 
the captain to me, who had just then taken charge 
of the helm, the ship being now under weigh. 

They were living and in apparently good health 
all day. Bat in the course of the following night 
both were taken sick, their first symptoms being 
a violent diarrhea, with cold sweats ; and before 
forty-eight hours both were dead. Two others 
were meantime laid low with the same disease, 
and only recovered by the most faithful attend- 
ance, and the strictest care as to diet. This was 
our first burying of the dead, and as may be sup- 
posed from the suddenness of the affliction, it was 
a solemn occasion. 

A few days after the burial, in accordance with 
universal custom on ship board, the effects of the 
deceased were disposed of at auction. In the 
merchant service, where the proceeds of such a 
sale go with the wages of the deceased to his 
heirs, perhaps a widow and family of children, an 
auction is often made the occasion of a display of ' 



AN AUCTION. 215 

generosity on the part of the surviving shipmates, 
who bid in the various articles at much more than 
their real value, and thus contribute their mite to 
the support of the bereaved family. 

The men found in the forecastle of a whaleship 
are, however, generally castaways in the world — 
young fellows who have run away from the pater- 
nal home, and have no one depending upon them 
for support. The proceeds, if the deceased is out of 
debt at the time of his death, are of course reserved 
for the relatives; but these do not often know 
of the circumstances, and it is only by accident in 
many cases that they ever learn of the decease of 
the wanderer. 

Of the death of these men. I speak reluctantly, 
and with pain. Both were delirious during the 
greater part of their short illness, and senseless 
for some time before death, so that the grim 
monster did not come with many terrors. But 
to those who looked on, vainly wishing for power 
to help, the spectacle was distressing. The sick 
men's minds were but little prepared for the great 
change ; and although the captain endeavored to 
the best of his ability to administer to them in 
their sane moments the consolations of religion, 
it is much to be feared that they died " as the 
beasts that perish." 

The gloom which hangs over a forecastle, when 
some of its members have been suddenly taken 
away, lasted here a shorter time, and was less 



216 WHALING AND FISHING. 

generally felt than is usual. Our crew were not 
seamen. They had not the many finer traits of 
character which distinguish the true sailor. They 
were selfish, and their many months of close 
intercourse with each other had not called out 
those strong feelings of affectionate regard which 
obtain among merchant seamen under such cir- 
cumstances. 

We were now cruising off the beautiful shores 
of Bourbon again, but meeting with no whales 
there our captain determined to take a short cruise 
around the Seychelle Islands, and then pass on to 
the Sooloo. sea. Several of our boatsteerers and 
officers had visited the Seychelles, and described 
them as most beautifully situated, fertile, and 
inhabited by a very innocent and quiet-lived 
people, the descendants of French settlers and the 
natives. "We therefore looked forward to having 
at last a pleasant run ashore, when we should 
arrive there, as it was understood that the vessel 
would make a stay of at least a week at one or 
other of the Islands. 

Our passage, which was made much in the 
manner of a continuous cruise, the vessel being 
hove to under reefed sails every evening, and 
standing on under short canvas all day, was the 
pleasantest we had yet experienced. For part of 
the. way the south-east tradewinds wafted us softly 
along through a climate which seemed that of an 
eternal spring, filling us with joyous anticipations 



"RUNNING AWAY." 217 

of the delights of a land which lies in the track 
of these genial breezes. 

For myself, I had determined that I would 
embrace the first opportunity to leave the vessel, 
as I was heartily tired of the monotony and dirt 
of a whaleship, as well as of the ignorance and 
brutality of those whom I was compelled to own 
as shipmates in the forecastle. These fellows, who 
claimed to be sailors because they had contracted 
all the vices usually, but in many cases erroneously, 
attributed to seamen, were to me day by day 
growing more unendurable. I had on several 
occasions cut off all communications with them, 
keeping company o'nly with the three Portuguese. 
It is exceedingly unpleasant to hold such relations 
to individuals with whom one is thrown in constant 
contact, and I had already before we sailed into 
Antongil Bay, made up my mind that I would at 
the first favorable chance leave the ship. 

Of course this determination of mine was not 
hinted to any one else ; although, as is usual in 
Whaleships, the subject of " running away " was 
daily discussed in the forecastle. I had learned 
ere this voyage that " a still tongue makes a wise 
head," and justly thought that the best way to 
secure the success of my scheme was to say 
nothing about it. 

I had some time since settled the preliminaries 
in my own mind, and now, as it became certain 
that we should visit the Seychelles, prepared some 



218 WHALING AND FISHING. 

thin clothing, which I more especially desired to 
take with me. I judged, from what the boatsteer- 
ers told me of the islands, that it would be almost 
impossible to get safely away from a whaleship 
there, unless some merchant vessel was just then 
in port, in which to take passage. I trusted that 
such would be the case, but had determined to 
try an escape into the country, if nothing better 
offered. 

By dint of diligent inquiry, I had learned all 
that was to be gathered from those who had before 
visited the place, as to the manners of the inhab- 
itants, their language, the peculiarities of the dif- 
ferent islands, and the modes of transport from 
one to the other. In fact, in the absence of all 
other excitement for the mind, my projected 
flight was the all-absorbing topic with me. I 
thought and dreamt of nought else, and often 
longed to take some one to my confidence, and 
talk over my ideas with him. But this I dare not 
risk. 

Meantime we were cruising along, keeping a 
sharp lookout for whales, all hands being anxious 
to fall in with and capture a whale or two, in order 
that our contemplated stop at the Seychelle islands, 
which seemed somewhat dependent on this con- 
tingency, might be secured beyond doubt. 

In fact, every circumstance in our lives was 
henceforth viewed merely as it would affect or be 
affected by the looked-for liberty at the Seychelles. 



ANTICIPATION. 219 

Was some one in trouble — " Never mind," mut- 
tered he to himself, " we'll be in the Seychelles 
soon." 

Did one have a nice shirt, or a pair of trowsers 
less patched than usual — " Those are intended for 
my go-ashore suit at the Seychelles." 

Was our diurnal duff raw, or rice badly cooked, 
" Wait till we get to the Seychelles," was the com- 
forting reflection. 

Even a quarrel in the forecastle was tempora- 
rily patched up, to be settled by due course of 
fisticuffs " on our arrival at the Seychelles." 

Our entire lives hinged upon that now delight- 
ful name. 

It was when we were about half way between 
Bourbon and the Seychelles, that one morning 
whales were seen from the masthead. They were 
to windward of us, and were going along at steady 
rate, evidently making a passage. Hour after 
hour, as we stood after them, the musical cry of 
"there blows," was shouted from the masthead 
by the dozen men there gathered to watch the 
movements of the fish ; until finally, at twelve 
o'clock, it was judged a favorable time to lower. 

The whales had just turned flukes, and it was 
thought, as they were not under very great head- 
way, that by means' of oars and sails we might 
place the boats in a favorable position for fasten- 
ing by the time they rose again. Luckily for us, 
while yet urging the boats ahead, the whales 
appeared at but very little distance from us, and 



220 WHALING AND PISHING. 

the second mate at once pulled up and struck one. 
We made for another fish, but the school immedi- 
ately disappeared, leaving the struck whale to 
fight his own battles. 

He however did not seem disposed to fight. 
The iron had been darted into one of his eyes, 
and he was evidently in great agony. He did not 
sound when struck, as is usual with sperm whales, 
but after giving two or three violent strokes on 
the water with his flukes, began rolling round 
and round, until he had a large part of one tub- 
full of. the second mate's line wound about his 
body. In his agony he would occasionally dart, 
wildly through the water, but in a short time re- 
sumed his rolling again, seeming, I thought, to be 
trying by this means to extract the dart. 

This rolling over of course gave a fair chance 
for a lance to be aimed at his breast, and in fifteen 
minutes after he was struck he was in his flurry, 
throwing his ponderous body about with the swift- 
ness and agility of a mackerel. 

When he was dead, and rolled over " fin out," 
we had an instance of how surely a dead whale 
will work to windward — that is, will drift against 
the force of both wind and sea. The vessel, by 
brisk working, had been brought to windward of 
our prize and hove to. While, however, the fluke 
chain and its adjuncts were being prepared, she 
drifted off again to leeward. It was to be ex- 
pected that so un wieldly a body as a whale, lying 
helpless upon the water, would have drifted off 



SULPHUR-BOTTOMS. 221 

nearly as fast as the vessel ; but on the contrary, 
we could plainly see that t it moved, if at all, the 
other way, against the wind. 

"How do you account for that?" asked I of 
the mate, while we were trying out. 

" "Whalemen say it is caused by the lower fin of 
the whale, which hangs loosely down in the water 
as he lies upon his side. As the sea sweeps under 
the body, this fin catches the water in a peculiar 
manner, and being yet bound by the muscles, at 
each sweep throws the whale's body slightly back, 
thus neutralizing the force of the wave." 

The next day we saw a huge finback of the 
kind called the sulphur -bottom. They are very 
large, and the blubber is reputed to make oil fully 
equal to sperm oil. Marvelous stories are told by 
whalemen, of the size of these sulphur-bottoms, 
some having been taken which turned out from 
one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty 
barrels of oil. They run, on being struck, just as 
does the real fin-back, and oftentimes sink when 
at the point of death, thus again disappointing 
the expectant whaleman. 

The mode most depended on for capturing them 
is to go on with a lance and an iron in the bows. 
The lance being darted first, if there is reasonable 
cause to suppose that it has struck his life, it is 
immediately followed by the iron. If it has not 
inflicted a mortal wound, the iron is withheld, as 
in that case the fish would go off at top speed, 



222 WHALING AND FISHING. 

and the ooat would only have to cut loose, with 
the loss of a harpoon and a portion of the line. 

Many whalemen will not lower for sulphur-bot- 
toms, considering them too troublesome. Our 
captain was of this opinion, and the monster fish 
used, therefore, to pass the vessel with perfect 
impunity. Their spout resembles a sperm whale's, 
but they differ in shape, having no hump, and 
being much longer. 

" Does any one ever try finbacks — or how is it 
known that they run ? " I asked, one evening as 
we stood by the try-fires, discussing the merits of 
sulphur-bottoms, and other running whales. 

" Yes," said the second mate, " most people have 
a desire to satisfy themselves upon the question, 
and generally do so before they can rest easy 
while a fat finback is sailing lazily past them. 
Last voyage we were cruising in the Sooloo sea, 
where the skipper now talks of going, when one 
beautiful afternoon, as we were gently gliding 
over a sea almost as smooth as glass, a good sized 
finback hove his ridge out of water just ahead of 
the boat. AYe had lowered for a school of sperm 
whales, gallied them by some accident, and were 
now returning aboard empty-handed, to get a 
jawing from the skipper. As I sat in the bow, 
whither I had gone to get under shelter of the sail, 
which flapped lazily against the mast, the thought 
struck me to fasten to this fish, and prove for my- 
self what the consequences of such an act would be. 



STRIKING A FINBACK. 223 

" I motioned to the boatsteerer to lay the boat 
round, so that with the little headway she had 
she would glide on him and give me a fair dart. 
As he came within reach I put out my utmost 
strength and sent an iron deep into his bilge. 

" He never stopped to kick, but putting his 
head on a level with the water's edge, started off 
at such speed as I don't believe whale-boat ever 
went before. 

" Mast and sail were carried straight over the 
stern, and as the boatsteerer, in obedience to my 
cry, held in the line, before I could grasp the 
boat-hatchet and cut line, we were half full of 
water. With such force was the boat dragged 
through the water that she leaked like a sieve from 
the strain. This specimen of a finback's running 
powers satisfied me fully." 

It was on a calm and beautiful day, a week 
before we saw the long wished-for Seychelles, that 
the captain, who was taking a walk around the 
vessel, noticed the man at the foreroyal-masthead 
gazing placidly down upon deck, instead of keep- 
ing his eyes on the waste of waters before him. 

" There are no whales down here, Henry," re- 
marked he, by way of reminder of his duty. 

"Well, captain," drawled out Henry, who was 
as good-natured and stupid a fellow as ever lived, 
" there are none up here." 

The captain grinned, as did all who heard the 
reply. Scarce a minute had elapsed, however, 



224 WHALING AND PISHING. 

before the mate, who was at the main royal 
masthead, sang out lustily, " There she Whitewa- 
ters," a cry which roused all hands from a pleas- 
ant doze, and caused some of us to run up the 
rigging to examine for ourselves the ■■" white- 
water." 

" There blows," repeated the masthead's-man. 

" One," said the captain. 

" There blows ! " from the masthead. 

" Two," from the captain. 

"There blows!" 

" Three." 

" There blows ! " 

« Four." 

" There blows ! " 

" Sperm whales, by all that's good and bad," 
now shouted the captain in ecstacy. " Get your 
boats ready, while I go aloft and watch them." 

There was no necessity for backing the main 
yard, for there was scarce a breath of air, and the 
ship had not steerage way on. The whales were 
about two miles off, and it was determined to 
lower as soon as they turned flukes, and try to 
get fast the next rising. 

" You may as well cast loose the paddles, Char- 
ley," said the boatsteerer, as I was making ready 
some of the boat-gear, " we shall not use the oars 
much to-day." 

" There goes flukes," was the signal for lower- 
ing the boats, and we set out merrily for the spot 



"GOING on" in a calm. 225 

where the fish were expected to make their next 
appearance. 

After pulling about a mile, the oars were peaked, 
and the balance of the distance was overcome by 
means of the paddles. To use these, the crew 
sit upon the gunwale of the boat, with their faces 
toward the bow. This is therefore a much pleas- 
anter way of approaching a whale than by pull- 
ing, or rowing, as landsmen would say. In fact, 
although much is said of the excitement of whal- 
ing, I doubt if much of this excitement is felt by 
those who, sitting with their backs to the fish, 
have no further share in his capture than placing 
the boat in a position to enable the harpooneers- 
man to "make fast." 

The boatheader, as commanding officer on the 
occasion, no doubt feels a pleasant degree of 
elevation, while the boatsteerer, if he has confi- 
dence in the " header " and in himself, is also 
under the influence of a pleasing excitement, 
and thinks it glorious sport. But to the men at 
the oars it is, I judge, a good deal as though they 
were being conveyed to the center of a [field of 
battle, blindfolded, and seated on a car, with their 
backs to the enemy. It is only in fine weather, 
when sailing is feasible, or paddling becomes neces- 
sary, that I ever saw a whale boat's crew entering 
into the spirit of the chase and capture. Then 
indeed, as on this occasion, it is glorious sport. 

The whales rose one by one, and at considera- 
ble distances from each other, thus giving several 
15 



226 WHALING AND FISHING. 

"boats an opportunity for getting fast. Our 
chance was, however, likely to be the best, as the 
whale nearest us was approaching the boat, meet- 
ing her head and head. 

" Paddle silently, boys," whispered the mate. 

"We dipped our paddles into the water with 
long and easy sweeps, scarce breathing, for fear 
of startling the whale who, occasionally spouting, 
was surging slowly toward us. He was entirely 
unsuspicious of our presence, and acted as though 
half asleep. More than fifteen minutes elapsed 
before we were sufficiently near to lay aside our 
paddles — fifteen minutes of eager excitement to 
every one of us. 

The boat soon lost her headway, and now lay 
almost motionless upon the water. The boat- 
steerer, iron in hand, stood with his knee against 
the lubber-chock. We had resumed our seats, 
but with one hand resting upon the oars, were 
engrossed in watching the whales. The mate, in 
the stern, having thrown the bight of the line 
about the loggerhead, was now slowly laying the 
boat around with his steering oar, to give Barnard 
a better chance. 

On came the whale — very slowly, I thought — 
every moment of delay increasing the excite- 
ment. Every breath was held ; no one dared 
move a jot. 

The dropping of a pin in the boat might almost 
have been heard, and if heard would certainly 
have excited numberless internal oaths, so fearful 



AN UGLY WHALE. 227 

were we of disturbing the yet unconscious whale. 
]N"ow we were within dart. 

Why don't you throw your iron ? is a question 
frowningly expressed upon every countenance. 

Giving the boat a last strong sweep around, so 
as to bring her bows at right angles with his body, 
the mate nods, as a sign to dart, and on the instant 
a startled splash of the whale's flukes proclaims 
that we are fast. 

Drawing a long breath, we grasped our oars 
and backed water. The whale darted under the 
boat, but did not sound to a great depth. All was 
now noise and activity. 

" Haul in, he's not going to sound," cried the 
mate. 

" Are those lances ready ? " 

The lances were already out of their becket, and 
in another ~ moment were on their rests. The 
whale, after lying for a few moments quite still 
at the depth to which he had sounded, as we could 
tell by our line, rose to the surface not far from 
the stern of the boat, and " throwing his jaw off," 
(as opening his mouth is called) , darted about in 
a circle, evidently preparing himself for mischief. 

As he swept in a circle around the boat, we were 
compelled to follow him, turning the boat contin- 
ually to keep her head on. The mate kept a 
taut line on him, determined to lose no time 
before lancing. But his gyrations did not afford 
an opportunity. Twice he darted for the boat, 
but each time sounded to a little depth before 



228 WHALING AND FISHING. 

coming within dart. This play continued half an 
hour or more, and our utmost efforts were required 
at times to keep the boat from being capsized, so 
swiftly did he drag her around. 

" If we only had a loose boat here now, to lance 
him, or engage his attention for a moment," mut- 
tered Barnard, whose berth at the steering oar 
was just now of the most unpleasant. 

" Blast the ugly beast, Barnard, we'll have to 
give a little more line ; the boat came near being 
capsized that last round," said the mate. 

For a moment, indeed, this had been deemed 
inevitable, but by instinctively crowding over to 
the upper side, and by the activity of the boat- 
steerer with his steering oar, we were saved from 
that mishap. 

"There, we're loose by all that's devilish!" was 
Barnard's exclamation as the boat suddenlv ceased 
to whirl round, and our line floated loosely on the 
water. The whale, as though knowing he was 
released, immediately started off at a speed which 
rendered all chase useless. He had gotten the 
line into his mouth which was wide open all the 
time, and with the constant strain it had chafed in 
two against the rough skin on his jaw. 

With disappointed looks we watched our whale. 
He made good headway from us, and at last turned 
flukes at the distance of a mile, still heading from 
us. 

"I did not know but he would come back, and 
give us another chance," remarked the mate. 



stove. 229 

" He seemed to be an ugly tempered fellow, and 
they sometimes come back to have a little re- 
venge." 

We laughed at this, and commenced pulling 
down toward the other boats, which we saw 
about two miles off in a direction opposite to that 
which our whale had taken. 

Some fifteen minutes had elapsed, and we were 
yet slowly pulling along, discussing our adventure, 
when the boatsteerer suddenly shouted at the top 
of his voice, — 

" Pull hard ! pull hard ! there's a whale under 
us!" 

Before this could be done — in fact, before he had 
fairly uttered his warning — we heard a crash, and 
felt the boat lifted up under us. In the next mo- 
ment all but the mate and myself were thrown into 
the water, and the boat was restored to her equi- 
librium, half filled and leaking fast at every seam. 

The whale, which had struck beneath the tub- 
oarsman's thwart, was now standing perpendicu- 
larly in the water, with his jaw thrown wide open, 
and his junk raised in the air. Thus he remained 
for the space of a minute, seemingly waiting for 
something to drop into his extended maw: then 
resuming his horizontal position he once more 
made off. 

Had the men been in the boat, the mate would 
have fastened to him again, wrecked as we were. 
But there was no one to lay the boat's head round, 
and to have struck him from the stern would have 



230 WHALING AND FISHING. 

exposed all to almost certain destruction, without 
any reasonable prospect of getting the whale. We 
immediately commenced bailing the boat, each 
man as he crawled aboard over bow or stern (for 
so full of water was the boat, that a touch upon 
her side would have capsized her), going to work. 
Buckets, hats, shoes, and every thing else available 
were brought into requisition, and we soon got the 
water so far under that two men could be set to 
work with paddles ; and thus while the rest bailed 
we slowly reached the ship. Here the boat was 
wrapped round with mats and ropes, and hoisted 
in to be repaired. A few of her after timbers 
were broken ; nearly every plank was started, and 
her keel was splintered in two places. 

The whale, as we knew by our iron which was 
sticking in his back, was the same we had struck. 
After going down at the distance of a mile, his 
temper probably got the better of him, and 
he returned to wreak revenge on his assailants. 
Barnard, who was the first to discover him, said 
he saw a huge body glistening as it rose rapidly 
under the boat, and at once guessed it to be a 
whale, not thinking however, till we all saw the 
iron in his back, that it was the whale. 

None of the other boats succeeded in getting 
fast. The crews said that although that portion 
of the school which they were pursuing, was at 
least two miles from us, they knew the moment 
we got fast, by the sudden disappearance of every 
whale. 



MAHE. 231 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Mahe — A Newspaper — The Islands — Their Inhabitants — A lazy 
man's Paradise — Plans for Escape — George Thompson's Yarn 
— A Cruise in a Whale-boat — The Escape — Sailing along 
Shore — The Arrival at Mozambique — Concerning Attempts to 
Desert from Whaleships — Some Reasons for the Frequency 
of such Attempts. 

We cruised for about a week after the accident 
described in the preceding chapter, in hopes to see 
the school of whales again, and make prizes of 
some of them. Not meeting with whales however, 
at the end of that time, we stood in for the land, 
which was never during the week more than one 
day's sail off, and in twenty hours were anchored 
in the harbor of Port Yictoria, or Mahe, as it is 
more generally called, that being the name of the 
Island upon which the town is located. 

We came to anchor at night, and at early dawn 
were boarded by the harbor master, (whose prin- 
cipal business seemed to be to receive and dispense 
news) and shortly after by a host of natives, 
who brought alongside all manner of fruits and 
vegetables, and — wonder of wonders — some copies 
of a newspaper, published on the Island. 

" The Seychelle News Letter" so it was called, was 



232 WHALING AND FISHING. 

a diminutive specimen of newspaperdom, printed 
on very coarse, dark paper, and from what is 
known by printers as pica type. One-half was 
in English and the other half French, a great 
part of the latter being taken up with the never- 
failing feuilleton. I purchased a copy for a plug 
of tobacco, and read the news while discussing my 
breakfast, a compound luxury I had not enjoyed 
for a long time. 

Mahe, which is the principal, and I believe 
largest of the Seychelle group, is sixteen miles 
long, and about four miles broad. It is mountain- 
ous, as are all the islands in the Indian ocean, but 
is withal very fertile, and has a most enchanting 
climate. The natives, who use the French lan- 
guage, understanding but little English, are of 
various hues, from the light olive of the southern 
Frenchman to the coal black of the native Mada- 
gassy. 

These islands were first settled by Frenchmen, 
and belonged to the French until 1794. They are 
now a dependency of the government of the Mau- 
ritius. But although the English flag flies there, 
and British colonial laws are administered, the 
inhabitants yet cherish their love for " la belle 
France" and I never heard "vive la repuhlique" 
shouted with more fervency than by one of our 
visitors when talking with the captain on the then 
recent great events in France. 

In days past, before the English abolished 
slavery, numbers of Madagassy were brought to 



A LAZY man's paradise. 233 

these islands as slaves. Their descendants still 
form in great part the laboring classes. They are 
a boorish and rude set, and have profited little 
from their admixture with the gentle and peace- 
ful French Creole population, except indeed where, 
as is to a considerable extent the case, a fusion of 
the two races has taken place. The whites are 
still the leading people, and have the commerce 
of the islands in their hands. They take great 
pride in the purity of their blood, and look down 
with no little contempt upon mulattoes and quad- 
roons, while these in turn despise the woolly- 
headed descendants of the JVfadagassy. The 
whites and those of mixed blood have all the 
grace and liveliness peculiar to the French char- 
acter, tempered with a gentleness which renders 
the men almost feminine in their manners, and 
makes the women very charming. 

The islands — there are thirty in the group — 
seemed to me the realization of a lazy man's idea 
of paradise. The constant sea-breeze tempers the 
heat of the sun, and makes the air slightly invig- 
orating instead of enervating. All kinds of trop- 
ical fruits grow spontaneously, or with the least 
possible degree of care, in a most generous soil. 
Shelter is scarcely needed, and clothing, beyond 
what decency prescribes, is altogether superfluous. 
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if the peo- 
ple are " doless," and live contentedly a quiet, 
inactive existence. On many of the smaller 
islands, so I was informed, bananas, bread-fruit and 



234 WHALING AND PISHING. 

fish are the principal food of the natives, who 
build their huts under the shade of a pleasant 
grove, and, to use an expression of our black 
cook, " have Sunday every day in the week." 

No sooner were we in port than plans without 
number were formed and discussed in the forecas- 
tle, by those who had grown dissatisfied with the 
ship or the business she was engaged in, and 
therefore desired to leave— or to state it in blunt 
English, to desert. Of our entire crew, leaving 
out of consideration the boatsteerers and officers 
whose interests were of course identified with the 
vessel, none but one Portuguese and the black 
cook really cared to stay. Each of the others had 
a plan for making good his own escape ; and at a 
distance, while we were yet at sea, each of these 
plans looked feasible enough. 

Some thought to take one of the ship's boats, 
and go in her to some of the other islands, 
where, setting the boat adrift, they would conceal 
themselves till the ship was necessitated to leave 
those waters. Some thought to procure a passage 
to a neighboring island in a small coasting pin- 
nace. Others yet were convinced that they would 
be able to subsist in the mountain region of Mahe, 
and render all search for them futile. 

Once in port, and with the land staring them in 
the face, several lost heart altogether, and aban- 
doned further thought of an undertaking in which 
they would have, without means, to cast them- 
selves among strangers, most of whom could not 



DESERTION. 235 

even understand their language. The rest found 
their plans of escape so little conformable to the 
existing state of things, that they were forced to 
devise new ways and means. 

Meantime, the captain was making preparations 
to thwart any attempts at desertion, by putting 
such of the natives as would serve him, on the 
alert, preparing to use them as scouts who could 
be quickly put upon the track of those who failed 
to return on board in due season. Whaling cap- 
tains, in general,, are up to pretty much all the 
tricks of their crews, and always chose a " lib- 
erty " port with an eye to the facilities it affords 
for retaking fugitives. Not one whaleship in fifty 
brings home from a three years' cruise the crew 
which took her out. Few young men are satis- 
fied with the monotonous life of a whaleman, and 
fewer yet are proof against the seductions of the 
shore, when visiting it, as we were now, after 
eleven months of hard fare and all manner of 
privation. So that most of those who complete the 
voyage, (here of course I speak of the forecastle 
hands), do so not from choice, but because the 
vigilance of the captain, or their own ignorance 
and poverty of resources, has rendered their 
escape impossible. Nothing is more common in 
a whaleship's forecastle than to hear the crew, even 
at an advanced stage of the voyage, speak of their 
hopes to escape at the next port. 

And here is shown the wisdom of captains and 
owners in shipping none but green hands. Sailors 



236 WHALING AND FISHING. 

it is next to impossible to keep on board when 
they once take it into their heads to leave. Used to 
foreign lands and ways, they fear not to throw 
themselves at haphazard among any people, sure 
that they will be able to work their way through 
"somehow." Besides, to the sailor all other ships 
are open, whereas the ignorant whaleman, making 
his first trip, is worthless as a seaman, and utterly 
unknowing of anything beyond his own ship. 

Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, how- 
ever, nine out of ten in every whale crew desert, 
generally paying for their foolhardiness by a most 
wretched life of exposure, privation and poverty, 
and in the end falling upon the tender mercies 
of some American Consul, or working their way 
homeward, broken down in health, and spirits, 
and morals. 

Numberless stories are told of escapes of whale- 
men from their vessels. I knew an old salt, who 
was one of the crew of a vessel cruising for whales 
on the coasts of Madagascar. The crew were dis- 
satisfied and determined to leave, but the captain, 
aware of their purpose, took care to enter only 
those ports, principally on the island around which 
they were cruising, where he knew that his men 
either dared not go ashore, because the natives 
would kill them, or where for ten dollars he could 
have a whole crew caught and delivered to him. 

" "We were lying in Nos Beh, (an island off the 
the northwest coast of Madagascar)," said George 
Thompson, who spun us this yarn, one midwatch, 



A CRUISE IN A WHALEBOAT. 237 

while snugly stowed away under the bulwarks of 
an old lime-juicer. " There is a French settle- 
ment there, and the captain had told us, on com- 
ing to anchor, that this was our appointed liberty 
place, informing us at the same time with a tri- 
umphant grin, that he was well acquainted with 
the commandant, and that if any of us felt inclined 
for an excursion into the country, we might make 
sure of a safe escort back within forty-eight hours 
after our departure from the ship. 

" Six of us, including one of the boatsteerers, 
had made up our minds to run away at all haz- 
ards ; but we now found our purpose completely 
frustrated, at least so far as taking refuge on shore 
was concerned. Upon consultation, we resolved 
upon the rather desperate measure of going off 
in one of the ship's boats. But where to ? Johanna 
and Zanzibar were suggested, as being the nearest 
ports; but the first was a regular resort for whale- 
men, where we would no doubt be detained, and 
the last was too far off, while in addition there 
was an American Consul there, into whose clutches 
it would not do to fall. We finally concluded that 
Mozambique was the only safe place for us, and 
although this would be a long passage to make in 
an open boat, we determined to try it. 

" Three days and nights were consumed in 
preparation. A considerable stock of bread and 
molasses was provided, with a very little salt 
pork, this being too great an incentive to thirst to 
be of much use to us. The water breakers in the 



238 WHALING AND FISHING. 

other boats were carefully filled, in readiness to 
be placed in the one destined to carry us. 

" On the third night, about two o'clock, we fas- 
tened the cabin doors as well as we could without 
noise, and then, all things being in readiness, 
clothing and provisions fairly stowed away, and 
oars ready for instant use, we rapidly lowered 
away the boat, and jumping in, put off from the 
ship. 

" The noise we made in lowering away roused 
the officers, and by the time we were half a dozen 
ships' lengths from the vessel, we were hailed by 
the captain, who called on us to return, threaten- 
ing all sorts of vengeance if we refused. 

" ' Pull away, lads,' said one of our number, 
' we have no breath to waste.' 

" We were momentarily increasing our distance, 
and would soon be safe from all pursuit, should 
such be made in the boats ; but now came a shot, 
which struck the man at the steering-oar. On 
seeing the blood, one or two of our number grew 
scared, and proposed to return. 

" ' Pull ahead,' said the wounded man, sternly, 
as he tied his neckhandkerchief about his wounded 
thigh. 

" A few strokes more and we were out of reach 
of the shot which were still sent after us; and 
soon a projection of the land hid the ship from 
our view. We now set up the compass with which 
every whaleboat is furnished, and hoisting our 
sail, put the boat on her course for the mainland 



A CRUISE IN A WHALEBOAT. 239 

of Madagascar, which would be visible at day- 
light. But to make our escape doubly secure, we 
continued pulling for some hours longer, not 
knowing but that our captain would pursue us 
with the ship. 

" Daylight disclosed to us the land of Madagas- 
car ahead, and as no pursuers appeared, we ship- 
ped in our oars, and stood along under sail 
pleasantly enough. The morning was bright and 
calm, with a good breeze, and as we skimmed 
along over the water, and began to realize that 
after two years of subjection we were once more 
our own masters, we felt light-hearted and equal 
to any emergency. The wound of our steersman 
proved to be slight, a mere scratch, which would 
not trouble him. 

" It now became necessary to take a cool survey 
of our position and resources. It had been deter- 
mined beforehand, that we should sail along the 
western shore of Madagascar until we judged our- 
selves abreast of Mozambique, and then boldly 
stand across the channel, which is just there at 
the narrowest, being not more than two hundred 
miles wide. By actual count of our biscuits, we 
found that we had sufficient to last us, on a mode- 
rate allowance, for three weeks. Of water we had 
enough for ten days, we judged, but of this, as we 
were to sail along shore, we hoped to procure a 
supply before we were entirely destitute. 

" Two of our number could navigate, and we 
had with us a quadrant, a Bowditch, and a small 



240 WHALING AND FISHING. 

chart of the coast of Madagascar, by the help of 
which we trusted to be able to find our way over 
the deep. We elected Long Tom Coffin, the man 
who was shot, our chief, and then divided our- 
selves off into watches, holding the helmsman 
for the time being responsible for a correct reck- 
oning of the course and distance made during his 
trick, and putting upon Long Tom the labor of 
keeping a regular log. 

" A spare royal which one of us had thrown in, 
made a most excellent shelter for the watch at 
night, and for all hands that desired to sleep during 
the day. You can have no idea how well we got 
along. The weather remained very fine, and the 
wind was continually fair, while, sailing along 
shore as we were, at no greater distance than was 
necessary to skip, as it were, from headland to 
headland, the sea was always so smooth that our 
little craft got over it at a remarkable rate. We 
named her the Dancing Feather, Long Tom 
swearing that she danced better than the prettiest 
girl he had ever seen. 

" After all preliminaries were settled, and we 
were taking a quiet look around, Tom, who seemed 
to have thought of everything, produced a bun- 
dle of books. He had ransacked every chest in 
the forecastle, and borrowed all he could of the 
boatsteerers. The two dozen volumes of tales and 
novels which he now pitched out to us as the 
result of his efforts, were most welcome access- 
ions to our small stock of amusements, and we 



A CRUISE IN A WHALEBOAT. 241 

whiled away many pleasant hours in their peru- 
sal, and in talking over the characters found in 
them. 

" On the second day after our departure, a coun- 
cil was held to determine what course should be 
pursued, should we fall in with vessels. After due 
consideration, it was decided that should we see a 
ship under sail, it would be prudent to keep out 
of reach, unless she were clearly a merchant ves- 
sel, when, if it was desirable, we might ask them 
to take us on board. Of the native boats and 
Arab coasters, we voted ourselves not afraid. We 
could at any time escape from such by means of 
our oars, and thought our six selves, armed with 
the irons and lances which the boat contained, a 
full match for any reasonable number of Arabs. 

" Our dead reckoning and observations proved 
that in the first three days out we made one hun- 
dred miles per day, which, although not a very 
fine run for a large vessel, was exceedingly good 
progress for a whaleboat. At this rate, we should 
not be more than eight or ten days under way. 
But the fourth day came a calm, and in the after- 
noon a heavy rain squall, which was very useful 
to us, as by means of our royal we caught suffi- 
cient water to fill up every vessel we had in the 
boat. Our biscuit we had stowed away safely in 
the stern sheets, and under the bow, where the 
rain could not injure them. 

""We were now prepared to make the entire trip 
without touching at any intermediate point, a 
16 



242 WHALING AND FISHING. 

circumstance of which we were very glad, inasmuch 
as it would have occupied valuable time to search 
about for water, as well as exposed us to an attack 
from the natives. As we became more and more 
at home in the boat, we grew bolder, and stood 
out from shore further. The weather remained 
delightful, and we now sailed just in view of the 
highest points of the land we were passing. 

" On the fifth day, we knew by the sharp east- 
erly curve the land took, that we were approaching 
the point where we would stand across. By the 
quadrant, we could ascertain the correct latitude 
each day at noon, and thus make sure that we did 
not overshoot the mark. 

" ' As for longitude,' said Long Tom, l we can't 
miss it : once get in the right latitude and sail due 
east, and you will run against the town, if it is 
not sunk.' 

" On the eighth day, our navigators announced 
that we were now at that point of our journey 
where we must stand east. We had been sailing 
east southeast some days, and the change in course 
was not therefore so great. 

" ' Look your last on Madagascar, boys ; I don't 
believe any of you want to see the wretched hole 
again,' was the word of our chief, as he laid the 
boat off shore. 

•' "We watched the receding hills without regret, 
for they were connected in our minds with two 
long years of toil and drudgery, for which we 
were never to receive any recompense. 






A CRUISE IN A WHALEBOAT. 243 

" Our passage was a pleasant one, and we were 
so fortunate as to miss the port by only about 
twenty miles, which we soon retrieved when Long 
Tom had gotten a correct observation, and deter- 
mined on which side, north or south of the place 
we had gotten. As we neared our haven, the 
question was, how should we present ourselves, 
what yarn were we to spin to the Portuguese, 
and how account for our possession of the boat. 

" ' For,' remarked Long Tom, who had gotten 
to be our oracle by this time, ' people don't com- 
monly navigate the ocean in whaleboats, and I 
dare say, we'll be looked upon as rather remark- 
able specimens of humanity, in this out of the way 
corner of the world.' 

" ' They are Portuguese,' said one, < and won't 
ask many questions.' 

" 'No, but they may put us in their dirty cala- 
boose, and poison us with garlic, in order to get 
possession of the boat.' 

" Long Tom, who was always listened to with 
attention, now proposed to sail boldly in, and if 
asked our business, and where we were from, state 
that we were lost from a whaleship cruising on the 
coast. We should undoubtedly gain time thus to 
look about us, and for the balance of our talk, let 
it be as little as possible. 

" ' And as I am the only one of you that under- 
stands Portuguese, I don't believe you will com- 
mit yourselves.' 

u We made the harbor about ten o'clock, on the 



244 WHALING AND FISHING. 

fifteenth morning after our departure from the 
ship. As we sailed in toward what seemed to be 
a landing on one of the islands in the Bay, we 
passed a long, rakish looking brig, the officers 
of which hailed us, and after hearing our story 
from Long Tom, asked us to come alongside. She 
was a trader, bound to Goa, and had lost her hands 
on the coast. After some hesitation, we agreed 
with the captain to go in her as far as Goa, there 
to be regularly discharged. The whaleboat we 
sold to a rich old Portuguese, dividing the spoils, 
which amounted to nearly one hundred dollars. 

" ' That's all you'll ever get for your two years 
hard work, boys, so make the most of it,' said 
Long Tom, as we shared it equally among us. 
"We all went to Goa, and thence Long Tom and I 
sailed for Pondicherry. But that's altogether an- 
other yarn, which I can't spin to-night." 

If the reader will pardon this long digression, 
we will now return to the subject which caused 
it — deserting from whaleships. The most desper- 
ate expedients are sometimes adopted to get clear 
of an unlucky or unpleasant vessel. Thus it is 
on record that the greater part of a whaleship's 
crew once drifted on shore on the cover of the try- 
works, which they had launched overboard for 
that purpose. This cover is large, square and flat, 
with sides about one foot deep. 

While we were cruising in the Pacific, in the 
United States service, a more desperate case than 
even this occurred at Honolulu. A man who had 



WHALING LIFE. 245 

vainly tried to desert from his vessel, having been 
several times retaken when making the attempt, 
deliberately laid his left wrist on a chopping 
block and cut off the hand, exclaiming as he did 
so, " Now you'll have to let me go." 

There is but little done by the officers to make 
the life of the crew of a whaleship pleasant. On 
the cruising ground there is nothing to do. This 
adds another misery to the already sufficiently 
wretched existence of the whalemen, and thus 
makes it entirely unbearable. To be cruising 
about, far at sea, is monotonous enough, even if, 
as in the merchant vessel, the daily routine of labor 
is so arranged as to keep both hands and minds of 
the seamen employed. But when, as in the whale- 
ship, no attempt is made to relieve the tedium of 
the voyage, no expedient devised for making the 
time pass more lightly and pleasantly, a single 
cruise of six or eight months generally infuses 
into the new hands a strong desire to make their 
escape from the vessel. Thus it was with our 
crew. 



246 WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER XIV. 

" Liberty "■ — The Massowah Vessel— She wants a Hand — I go 
alongside — The Vessel is searched — We sail — The trip to the 
Mauritius — The Crew — The Captain — Discipline — The Land 
— Port Louis Harbor — I gain an unexpected Friend — I take 
charge of the Captain's Boat — A trip to Tombo Bay — Paul 
and Virginia — The Island — Its state under the French — 
Under British rule — Malabar Apprentices — Malabar Town — 
The Natives — Chinese. 

To return to our own ship. On the fourth day 
after our arrival in port we were allowed a run 
ashore. No one of the crew hut myself was the 
possessor of a cent of money. But all had what 
is called " trade," such as calico, tobacco, beads, 
etc., which they could here readily barter for such 
purchases as they desired to make. 

When we first anchored in the harbor, I noticed 
a large vessel with French colors flying, also at 
anchor. On inquiry, one of the natives informed 
me she was from Massowah, and had on board a 
cargo of horses. She hailed from Bourbon, but I 
was told was now bound to the Isle of France. 
She was to sail iu a very few days, and I deter- 
mined to make an effort to sail in her, as this 
Beemed to me the surest chance for effecting my 



I PREPARE TO LEAVE. 247 

escape from bondage. During my ramble about 
the shore, and while considering as to the best 
method of getting on board to ask the captain for 
a passage, I was so fortunate as to meet him. A 
native of whom I had asked some particulars con- 
cerning the vessel, pointed him out to me. I at 
once addressed him, stating my wishes, and also 
the fact that I was a merchant sailor, and would 
endeavor to make myself of use to him. 

He answered me in tolerable English, that he 
wanted a hand, but that he feared I would not 
care to come with him, when I once knew the 
manner in which his crew lived. 

" We are used to our country fashion of having 
only two meals per day ; and bread is something 
entirely unknown to us." 

I answered, that I thought myself able to sub- 
sist on that which supported life in others, and 
would be very glad of a chance to try it at any 
rate. 

" Well," said he, " we shall sail to-night, and if 
you can get aboard during the night I will take 
you with me, although I fear I shall get myself in 
trouble with your captain by it." 

Much rejoiced at my unexpected success, I re- 
turned on board about noon to get my dinner, and 
took that occasion to put on two suits of clothing, 
and place my peajacket and some other little arti- 
cles in a bundle, and with this, as trade, had my- 
self set ashore again, determining to stay, and go 



248 WHALING AND FISHING. 

off to the "Hercule " — that was the French barque's 
name — in a native boat during the night. 

In the course of the afternoon I engaged a na- 
tive, who for three dollars, more than half my 
fortune, which consisted at that time of five Mex- 
ican pesos, engaged to convey me on board at any 
time during the night. Thinking that after sell- 
ing himself to me, he might, in hopes of a better 
price, betray me to the captain, I inserted a clause 
in our agreement, by which he was to remain with 
me until the time arrived to go on board, and to 
provide me until then with a shelter. We accord- 
ingly walked to the outskirts of the little town, 
where my man had a rude hut under shade of 
some banana bushes. Here we lay down to await 
the time when the click of the windlass should 
tell me that the barque was getting under way. 

The weary hours passed slowly by. I thought 
the sun was never going to set, and when it be- 
came dark, the suspense was yet more disagreea- 
bly prolonged by the close watch necessary to be 
kept upon the ship, lest she should be under way 
before we were aware of it. At last, about twelve 
o'clock, we heard the windlass, and in a moment 
after saw the foretopsail drop. Eunning hastily 
down to the shore, we jumped into a canoe and 
paddled off at full speed. 

" There's a pirogue from your ship, master," said 
my boatman, when we were about midway be- 
tween the shore and the barque. 



AN ESCAPE. 249 

Sure enough, we could just discern through the 
darkness one of our boats, apparently about to 
board the barque. I thought for a moment that 
my hopes were nipped in the bud ; but after lying 
still for a few minutes, I told the fellow to pad- 
dle on. 

We will go alongside on the other side, thought 
I, and remain there until our boat leaves, when I 
can get on board in safety. 

"When we got alongside, I could hear the voice 
of our mate talking to the captain, who denied 
stoutly that I was on board. 

" You can take lanterns and search the hold, 
sir," said he to the mate, as that worthy still 
seemed unconvinced. 

Lanterns were accordingly produced, and while 
I lay concealed in the canoe under the quarter, 
the mate, accompanied by some of the crew, 
walked through the half empty hold, (she was 
partly in ballast), closely examining every nook 
and cranny, sounding the water casks, turning 
over spare rigging, and looking among the horses. 
The search was vain, and with sundry curses, and 
threats as to what woiild befall me were I caught, 
the mate at length descended into his boat, and 
with joy I heard them pulling off toward the ship. 
Orders were now given, in French, to man the 
windlass and heave up the anchor. I waited till 
the ship was fairly under way, before I climbed 
to the deck. There the captain received me, 






250 WHALING AND PISHING. 

assuring me that had I come on hoard sooner, I 
would certainly have heen caught. 

With a light heart I "bounded to the masthead 
to loose the topgallant and royal, and in a very 
short time we were out of the harbor — and I was 
once more a free man. . For the state of subjec- 
tion in which men are kept on a whaleship, when 
continued for such a length of time, becomes 
nothing less than the most abject slavery. 

After the anchors were secured and all made 
ready for sea, I wrapped myself up in my pea- 
jacket, and stowing myself snugly away under 
the weather - bulwark slept till daylight. On 
waking up, I took the wheel, and steered from 
that time till eight o'clock. During this time the 
captain explained to me the internal economy of 
the vessel, which was certainly new to me. The 
crew, numbering fifteen, were of all shades of 
black, from charcoal to dark brown. They were 
natives of the Mauritius or the Seychelles, and 
were not sailors, but simply rojpe-hauhrs and horse- 
tenders. They received ten dollars per month, 
and for this kept watch at night, made and took 
in sail, steered the vessel, and tended the wants 
of the cargo of horses which was now on board. 
If the rigging required repairs, the mates were 
obliged to do this themselves, and as for sail-mend- 
ing, about that even they knew but little. 

The crew slept upon deck, each man having a 
mat and a jacket, the mild air rendering other 






BANIAN. 251 

covering unnecessary. They were allowed two 
meals per day, the first at nine o'clock, consisting 
of a modicum of boiled rice with a little wretched 
cocoa ; the second at three o'clock, consisting of 
another portion of rice, and a small piece of salt 
beef. Neither bread nor, any other preparation 
of flour was known on board, not even in the 
cabin. 

No one who has not experienced it, can know 
how exceedingly difficult it is for one used to a 
civilized diet, to make a satisfactory meal without 
bread. It was a hard school for me, here. Eut 
hunger makes a sauce for every food, and it was 
not long before I could relish my dinner or break- 
fast of boiled rice as well as any one of those who 
were bred to it. Of course on such slight diet 
men do not work very energetically. Our crew 
were as lazy a set as ever lived, and their diurnal 
task of feeding and watering the horses was spun 
out to last nearly the entire day. 

For two days I took share in this labor. By 
this time, however, the captain, who had seen 
some sail-maker's tools in my little bundle, and 
had ascertained that I could work with the needle, 
found some sail-mending for me to do, and hence- 
forth my work was under the quarter deck awn- 
ing, patching up old royals and top -gallant-sails, 
flying jibs and studding sails. I soon learned 
sufficient of the mongrel French spoken on board 
to make my wishes known, and understand or- 
ders, and when my rebellious stomach was once 



252 WHALING AND FISHING. 

reconciled to the strange diet, I had a not uncom- 
fortable place on board. The only thing against 
me was my color. To my misfortune I was the 
whitest man on board, and with the exception of 
the captain and chief mate, the only one who was 
purely white. This caused me to be looked down 
upon by my black friends, who, when I would 
commit any little extravagance, such as making 
myself a wooden spoon wherewith to eat my rice, 
(they used their fingers, in the Adamic style), or 
washing my hands and face at the close of a day's 
work, shrugged their shoulders in pitying con- 
tempt, and declared that nothing better was to be 
expected from a man of my color. Nevertheless, 
as they found me ready to take my share of what- 
ever work was going on, and always disposed to 
converse to the best of my ability, they voted me 
in the main a good fellow, much better than the 
common run of white folks. And as I entertained 
my own opinion as to their merits, I could afford 
to be amused at their ideas of me. 

My ignorance of their barbarous jargon seemed 
to them, however, the oddest of my peculiarities, 
and they could never laugh enough at my mis- 
takes. I had long ago learned the propriety in 
such cases, of laughing with the crowd, and prac- 
ticed largely upon this theory now ; not, however, 
without an occasional internal malediction on the 
stupidity of these fellows, who could so easily 
ignore all knowledge not possessed by themselves. 
With the captain I was shortly a favorite, 



CAPTAIN LEPELLETIER. 253 

inasmuch as I was of service to him in vari- 
ous particulars where his natives were useless. 
He spoke to me often of his voyages, and of the 
life — a very lazy one it was, too — which he led, 
and in which he delighted. He was a man of 
some means, had a plantation in the Mauritius, 
where he managed to have a little sugar raised ; 
owned the vessel of which he was now master, 
and made in her generally a voyage each year to 
Massowah, or some other of the ports on the Eed 
Sea, for horses, and a trip or two to Madagascar 
for cattle, making long stays on shore between 
these trips, and evidently enjoying his family life 
very highly. He was forty-five years of age, 
tall, portly, gray haired and good natured, and 
prided himself much on his purely French extrac- 
tion, and his name, Lepelletier, which he main- 
tained occupied a conspicuous place in the annals 
of la telle France. As in duty bound, he despised 
Johnny Bull, and thought that the greatest calamity 
which ever befell his native isle, was its com- 
ing into the possession of the British. Every- 
thing, he complained, was now taxed. The slave 
trade and slavery was abolished, but the wretched 
Hindoos who were yearly brought thither under 
the name of free laborers, were in a far more 
abject condition of slavery than ever were the 
Madagassy who were formerly held in an easy 
bondage under the French. 

"In former times there was some blood and 
some good society to be found in Port Louis ; but 



254 WHALING AND FISHING. 

now the shop keepers, a wretched set, had tho 
sway, and the Acadian simplicity of the French 
regime was gone." 

He spoke tolerable English himself, but would 
not be complimented upon it, and strongly advised 
me to learn French, as the only language fit to be 
spoken by honest men. 

I delighted much in his talk ; and his descriptions 
of the indolent easy life which was formerly the 
fashion among the French planters and residents, 
were charming to me, who have myself a keen 
appreciation for " a bit of the dolcc." On board 
his ship, where he was Lord Paramount, all lived 
in this indolent, half dreamy state. To brace 
the yards 01 pull home a sheet was a labor 
requiring much deliberation. Half an hour gen- 
erally elapsed between any order and its fulfill- 
ment ; and no work not absolutely necessary was 
ever attempted. Studding sails were held as 
abominations, fit only for a restless hurrying Jean 
Bull, and even royals were not looked upon with 
favor. 

I, who had been trained in the hardworking 
merchant service, would have labored from eight 
till six, on my sails ; but this was not suffered. Six 
hours per day was quite sufficient to work, and 
even this time was in great part wasted in loung- 
ing and conversation : so that ere long I had got 
to be as inveterate an idler as any one on board. 
This kind of life would of course be impossible 
any whore but in the tropics. Here however, the 



RETROSPECTIVE. 255 

climate, an eternal spring, enervates the most 
robust and active, and with its gentle breezes and 
beauteous skies, brings one into a half dreamy- 
languor which is delicious. After I had ceased to 
long for bread, and my stomach became reconciled 
to boiled rice instead, I enjoyed the life exceed- 
ingly, and was not long in forming a resolution to 
make these latitudes my cruising ground, and in 
case I found it comfortable, the Mauritius my 
home. 

I was now approaching the Island under cir- 
cumstances very different from those in which I 
had visited it before. Then it was in an English 
ship, and as a British sailor, with all the helpless 
misery of a British tar cast ashore in a foreign 
port, where ships and victuals are alike scarce. 
Now, I had at length gotten into a French vessel, 
and among those who were natives of the place. 
And although, pecuniarily, I was worse off than 
before, I cherished a hope that the native vessels 
would be henceforth open to me, and reveled 
once more, in anticipation, in the glorious voyages 
to the out of the way nooks and corners of this 
part of the earth, which I should here have the 
opportunity to make. 

Meantime we were slowly sailing on toward our 
destined port. As the wind was steadily ahead, 
we had taken a long stretch to the East, and were 
now on the landward tack. After a forty days 
passage the high peaks of the Isle of France at 
length hove in sight in the blue distance ; and two 



256 



WHALING AND FISHING 






days sailing through water more limpid, and with 
a sky more clear, and breezes more genial and 
soft than even those which had been vouchsafed 
us during the passage, brought us to the narrow 
mouth of Port Louis harbor. 

Who shall attempt to describe the glories of a 
landfall in the tropics? My pen is not adequate to 
a delineation of the beauteous boldness with which 
the outlines of the volcanic peaks are thrown in 
dee}), deep blue against the distant horizon, or the 
glorious golden effulgence in which they are envel- 
oped as the sun sets behind them. And who can 
do justice to the serene purity of the air ; its genial 
mildness both night and day ; the absence of harsh- 
ness in every movement of the sea, as it sweeps in 
peaceful undulations toward the setting sun ? 

The breeze which fans the dreamer's brow comes 
as though some one laid his hand in kindness there. 
The waves which break under the bow, break 
softly. The spray which ever and anon falls upon 
deck, falls in refreshing showers. The wind which 
fills the sails blows gently; and the very ship seems, 
in unison with the scene, to glide along over the 
waves, no longer meeting and cleaving the waters 
with the stubborn shock of enemies in battle, but 
parting them asunder softly, as some good natured 
giant would make his way through a crowd of 
little children. The sabbath stillness is broken 
only by the harsh scream of the tropic bird as on 
snow white wing he sweeps past, landward, or 
darts beneath the wave in search of prey. ^ 



PORT LOUIS HARBOR, 257 

And now scarce has the last golden ray of the 
departing sun gone down behind the distant moun- 
tain tops, when night conceals the scene as with a 
huge black cloth, through which shine myriads of 
brilliant stars, brighter by far than ever rejoiced 
the vision of him who dwells in northern lands : 
" The eyes of God," whispered the mate to me, as 
I reclined u]5bn the forecastle in silent contempla- 
tion of the change. 

The entrance of Port Louis harbor is quite nar- 
row, the ship channel being scarcely wide enough 
to sail up with a fair wind. And as the prevail- 
ing wind blows out of the harbor's mouth, steam- 
tugs have been found necessary to tow vessels in. 
At early daylight one of these little boats, there- 
fore, took us in tow, and we glided rapidly up 
through tiers of large vessels securely moored 
head and stern, and with their top-hamper on deck, 
to present as little resistance as might be to the 
hurricane winds which occasionally sweep this 
latitude. 

At the upper end of the harbor a basin, known 
as the canal, has been built for the accommoda- 
tion of the small traders and bullock droghers ; 
and among these we now anchored, sending our 
stern moorings ashore by large mooring boats, 
which are held in readiness for this service by the 
captain of the port. 

Once moored, the topgallant and royal yards 
and masts were sent upon deck, and the topmasts 
17 



258 WHALING AND FISHING. 

and topsail -yards made ready for a speedy descent. 
Then the hands had time to greet old friends 
who were fast crowding alongside or standing 
upon the shore waving handkerchiefs, and hailing 
in barbarous French. Had we now had English 
or American officers, but little time would have 
been lost in such pleasures. Preparations would 
have been instantly begun for sending our cargo 
ashore. But here the balance of the day was 
given for communion with friends, and to-morrow 
was declared time enough to begin work. 

I alone had no friends to greet me, no one to 
rejoice in my return, no heart to beat quicker at 
sight of my bronzed face, by this time of nearly 
as dark a hue as many of my shipmates. And as 
joyful faces showed themselves over the gangway, 
and supplies of fruit from the shore proved the 
heartiness of the welcome which kind friends 
were giving the returned voyagers, I began in the 
selfishness of my heart mentally to find fault with 
all about me, and more than half wished I had 
not come to Port Louis. 

But I was not doomed to remain friendless. 
As I sat apart, upon the topgallant forecastle, 
feeling, and I dare say looking very dreary, a 
brown Hebe approaching me, inquired, in bro- 
ken English, " You got no friends, Jack ? " 

" Not a friend," said I, in a gruff tone, as not 
thinking it desirable to have my loneliness com- 
mented upon by strangers. "Watching me rather 



ANCiELIQUE. 259 

dubiously for a moment, she held out her hand, 
and said in a voice full of serious kindness, " Well, 
I be your friend, Jack." 

I did not put my arms round her neck and kiss 
her, as I should have done had I followed the im- 
pulse of my heart. Eut I thanked her deeply for 
all the sympathy which was expressed in her sim- 
ple words, and in her yet more child-like counte- 
nance. Hailing a boatman who was standing at 
the gangway, she bade him bring to us some 
fruit which she had in his boat, and over this and 
my dinner of boiled rice, Angelique and I sealed 
a friendship which lasted during my seven month's 
stay upon the island. 

She had come on board to see her brother, who 
had sailed as carpenter of the vessel six months 
before. He had been drowned on the outward 
passage; to which untoward accident I owed my 
ready acceptance by the captain, at Mahe, as well 
as, I suppose, the sudden friendship Angelique had 
contracted for myself. 

" Poor Charles," said she, while tears filled her 
eyes, " somebody else will feel as sorry as I do, 
when she hears of his death. But Marie will not 
be long away from him." 

She was overjoyed when she learned that my 
name was also Charles, and in the simplicity of 
her heart at once pronounced our meeting Provi- 
dential. While we were yet talking — she eagerly 
laying out plans for my stay on shore, as though 
we had known each other for years — the captain 



260 WHALING AND FISHING. 

approached. He knew her, and had been the first 
to inform her of her brother's death. He smiled 
as he listened to her prattle, but entered heartily 
into her plans, and at once promised that if I 
would stay on shore he would give me employ- 
ment, for a time, in sailing a boat between the 
town and his plantation, which was situated on a 
neighboring bay. This proposal met my views, 
and I hastened to express my gratification. It 
was therefore arranged that I should remain on 
board till the cargo was discharged, and then take 
up my residence ashore in a small cabin belonging 
to the captain. 

Having arranged these matters to our mutual 
satisfaction, she returned on shore to condole with 
Marie on their mutual loss, while I spent the bal- 
ance of the day in the re-perusal of Bernandin St. 
Pierre's delightful story of Paul and Yirginia, the 
scene of which, he who has read it will remember, 
is laid in the Isle of France ; Tombo Bay, where 
Yirginia, on her return from France, was ship- 
wrecked, being, singularly enough, the locality of 
my captain's plantation. 

On the morrow we commenced discharging our 
cargo of horses. They were noble little ponies, 
but rather wasted from a long passage in our ill- 
ventilated lower deck. They were hoisted out by 
a strap fastened about their middle, and being 
securely haltered, were made to swim ashore, a 
boat going with each to support and guide it. 
Arrived once more on dry land, the grateful 



PAID OFF. 261 

animals scarcely knew how sufficiently to express 
their joy. They capered and caracoled, neighed, 
and rolled upon the ground, in the exuberance of 
their joy. I was told they were of the Arabian 
breed, although they were brought from the Aby- 
sinian side of the Bed Sea. They were fine, 
plump, lithe, and exceedingly high-spirited, as I 
had occasion to notice when they had again recov- 
ered their strength and flesh. 

Horses are not raised on the Island, but are 
brought hither from various parts of the East, 
principally from the ports on the Eed Sea. 
Neither is stock raising pursued as a business. I 
was told that the climate is unfavorable to its suc- 
cess. Cattle are brought from the adjoining 
island of Madagascar, and from the coast of Africa. 
These branches of trade give employment to a 
large number of vessels owned or sailing from 
here. 

On the third day I was paid off by the captain, 
who gave me forty rupees, ($20), in consideration, 
as he said, of my having been very useful to him. 
Arrived on shore, I was welcomed as though I was 
an old resident, and in a short time was estab- 
lished very comfortably, Angelique, who proved a 
dear good girl, providing as carefully for my 
wants as though I had been really her brother. 

In a few days I was placed in command of Cap- 
tain Lepelletier's boat, and with a little Malabar 
boy as crew and to show me the way, we sailed 
down the harbor. As we glided slowly over the 



262 



WHALING AND PISHING. 



smooth waters of the outer roads, the steady 
breeze scarce filling our sail, I took out my now 
never failing Paul and Virginia, and with the 
lofty peak called Peter Botta heaving its giant 
head into the air before me, read over again the 
story of that fatal shipwreck, the scene of which, 
the bay of Tombs, (Tombo Bay), as it is still 
called, now lay before me. The engraving on the 
page opposite this is an accurate representation 
of it. Here, when in the dark, stormy night Vir- 
ginia's vessel missed the entrance to Port Louis, 
her captain sought safe anchorage, but was thrown 
upon the breakers. It was to me a realization of 
romance. Every shoal in the bay, as w r e sailed 
past it, every palm tree on the shore, every peak, 
towering in the blue distance, all were part and 
parcel of the story, the most charming of all tales 
of true love. 

As we approached the landing, the white mar- 
ble monument erected in memory of the lovers, 
and over their supposed graves, was seen through 
the green thicket of bananas and palms. Soon I 
trod a ground sacred to all true lovers, and with 
book in hand, wandered about the beach endeav- 
oring to fix upon the spot whence Paul leaped into 
the flood to the rescue of his Virginia. 

I found that although my little Malabar boy 
knew but little about the localities, the natives 
who had charge of the farm had all the particu- 
lars at their fingers' ends. They were delighted 
at the lively interest I took in the story, and 



TOMBO BAY. 263 

pointed out to me every part of the beach or 
shore that was connected with the untimely fato 
of the lovers. Having surveyed all, and talked 
the story over in broken English on their part, 
and worse French on my own, we adjourned to 
the house, an ancient wooden structure, looking 
as though it might have stood there at the time 
when the bay first received its present name. Here, 
while the Malabar servants of the farm were un- 
loading my boat, a repast of delicious pine apples, 
mangoes and bananas was served up for me, and 
the entertainment finished by the introduction of 
a huge bowl of eau sucre, (sugar and water), from 
which each in turn took a long draught. 

I wandered about the rocks on the shore until 
the turn of the tide, and then launching the boat, 
proceeded on my return. The wind was light, 
and the tide swept us some miles seaward beforo 
we arrived opposite the harbor's mouth. From 
there I had leisure, as I reclined under an awning 
in the boat, to view and admire the grand abrupt- 
ness with which the volcanic peaks, seem thrown 
up. 

Peter Botta, although the most celebrated, is 
by no means the highest of these peaks. It ac- 
quires its celebrity from its singular shape, ter- 
minating at the top in a huge knob or ball, which 
has been ascended but twice since the island 
became known to Europeans. The first ascent was 
made by a Dutchman, from whom it derived its 
name, Peter Botta. He was seen standing on the 



264 WHALING AND FISHING. 

summit, but was never heard of afterward, and 
probably perished in the descent. The natives 
believe that his spirit still haunts the peak and 
its immediate vicinity. A British naval officer 
made the second and last ascent, with the assist- 
ance of a company of seamen. The party passed 
the night upon the mountain, some upon the 
shoulder, and two or three sleeping uneasily uj)on 
the narrow top of the ball. They descended the 
next morning, after witnessing a most glorious 
sunrise, and planting the British flag upon the 
highest point of the ball, as a memorial of their 
visit. This flag and staff have long ago been 
blown down by the hurricanes. 

Mauritius, or the Isle of France, (it is equally 
well known by both names), was discovered by 
the Portuguese, in 1505. The Dutch took possess- 
ion of it in 1598. Few if any traces of their gov- 
ernment or settlement at present remain, with the 
exception of the name, Mauritius, which they 
bestowed upon the isle in honor of their prince, 
Maurice. It came under the French flag in 1721, 
and from that time till its capture by the British, 
in 1810, was in their possession. These were, 
from all accounts, the best days of the island. It 
seems during this period to have been a modern 
Arcadia, the abode of a peaceful, inoffensive and 
somewhat indolent people, who tilled the ground 
or tended their flocks, unambitious of wealth or 
distinction, and unmoved by the quarrels which 
rent the civilized world. Under the British rule 



THE ISLE OF FRANCE. 265 

it is gradually becoming a thriving business 
place, and its commercial importance is yearly 
increasing. 

The French used to procure their slaves from 
the neighboring island of Madagascar, and the 
present black natives of the island are the descend- 
ants of these slaves. The British emancipated 
these, and as their descendants will no longer till 
the ground of others, but rather live contentedly 
on their own little patches of soil, eking out a 
scanty subsistence, with little labor, the govern- 
ment now annually imports numbers of Hindoos, 
principally from the Malabar coast, who take the 
place of the former slaves. These poor people 
engage themselves for five years. They labor for 
from four to ten rupees (two to five dollars) per 
month, and are treated much worse than slaves. 
In Port Louis, extensive grounds and buildings 
are set apart for their lodgings when first arrived. 
Here the planter or citizen in want of servants 
comes to engage them. They are chosen, and 
whether they desire it or not, must go with their 
new masters, on such terms as are customarily 
given on the island. 

Unused to the severe labor which is exacted of 
them on the sugar plantations they soon become 
low spirited, and not unfrequently commit suicide. 
Great numbers desert from the plantations and 
conceal themselves among the mountains or in 
the town. Policemen are constantly upon the 
watch for these runaways, and when a Malabar is 



266 WHALING AND FISHING. 

seen on the streets of Port Louis, whom a police- 
man has reason to think a deserter, he is forced to 
produce either his free-j^ajDers or a permit or leave 
of absence from his master, and in default of both 
of these documents, is at once imprisoned and 
advertised, in order that his master may claim 
him. 

On the plantations the lash is freely used, it 
having been found that without this the requisite 
amount of labor can not be extorted from these 
poorly paid, ill fed and naturally indolent people. 
It will be easily conceived, that their condition is 
not therefore any better than one of slavery, for 
the time being, and taking into consideration the 
false pretences under which they are allured to 
leave their native land, and the hopes held out to 
them of being able, at the end of their apprentice- 
ship, as it is called, to return home in easy circum- 
stances, their condition is much worse, and their 
treatment a greater wrong against humanity. 

Comparatively few ever return. Many die be- 
fore the expiration of their term of labor. Others 
engage in business, numbers of them keeping 
small stores for the sale of provisions and fruits 
to the poorer classes of their countrymen who live 
in the city. And others yet labor about the town, 
or peddle vegetables and goods about the streets, 
thus earning a scanty subsistence : part of which 
they are again forced to surrender to the govern- 
ment in tho shape of a license to pursue their 
calling. 



AND NATIVES. 267 

One of the suburbs of Port Louis is settled 
principally by these people, who live contentedly 
on their small means when they once regain their 
liberty. A walk through Malabar town about 
sunset, when the heat of the day is relieved by 
the cool evening breezes, will give one a much 
more favorable idea of the Hindoos than will be 
gotten from the accounts of their English mas- 
ters. Here each family gathers about the door 
of its hut and listens to songs, or the music of the 
mandolin, the women talking, the men silently 
smoking their narghilly or hubble-bubble. Maid- 
ens dance upon the green sward, and little naked 
children play about the doors. All is a scene of 
quiet, peaceful enjoyment, which will convince 
any one that, indolent as these people doubtless 
are, and intractable as they are said to be on the 
plantation, when left to themselves they are inof- 
fensive, and have the elements for making of them 
good citizens. 

The black natives of the island do not bear so 
good a character. They are exceedingly lazy, and 
much inclined to rowdyism and thieving. They 
are not numerous, at least about Port Louis. The 
better class of them work as stevedores on board 
the vessels, or are engaged as porters and labor- 
ers on shore. An inconsiderable number sail in 
the country vessels. 

The Chinese, as mentioned in an account of my 
first visit to this place, are the most thrifty of 
the lower classes. They are seldom laborers, but 



268 WHALING AND PISHING. 

keep the groceries and groggeries of the town, and 
have a keen eye to all kinds of trade. Frugal, 
not too honest, and exceedingly clannish, they are 
to a man in comfortable circumstances. It is a 
common remark in the Mauritius, that a Chinese 
beggar was never seen there. If a poor China- 
man comes to the colony, his countrymen give 
him employment, and place him above want. 
They do not intermarry w T ith the other races, but 
procure for themselves wives from China. 

A singular story is told of their once entering 
the vault beneath the bank building in Port Louis, 
by undermining the street leading to it. A large 
amount of bullion was abstracted ere the plot was 
discovered; and for some time no trace could be 
found of the robbers. The Chinese burying 
ground is below the barracks, in the lower part 
of the harbor. Thither, one morning, just at the 
break of day, a company of Celestials were seen 
conveying a coffin. A Chinese funeral was noth- 
ing strange ; but the sentry noticed that the body 
seemed to be remarkably heavy, causing a fre- 
quent stoppage and change of bearers. 

As the guard was relieved, the man on duty 
remarked, jokingly, that a fat Chinaman was being 
taken to his long home. To the sergeant the 
movement seemed suspicious, and he at once pro- 
ceeded to the funeral cortege, who at his coming 
precipitately fled, leaving the suppositious corpse 
to its fate. Upon breaking open the coffin, instead 
of a dead Chinaman, it was found to contain the 



CHINESE. 269 

greater portion of the stolen bullion, which was 
thus being conveyed to a safe resting place. 

Besides the races already mentioned, Port Louis 
has samples of almost every Asiatic, and many 
European and African nations, all of whom find 
occupation in various departments of its now 
active commerce. This commerce is mainly in 
the hands of the English and the French Creoles. 
The French language is universally spoken — as 
much so indeed as though the island still belonged 
to France. 

The merchants mostly have their dwelling houses 
on the outskirts of the city, and many of them 
have built upon the sides of the mountains which 
surround Port Louis. There the white houses 
may be seen perehed upon abrupt crags, and 
peeping through thick groves of beautiful trees. 



270 WHALING AND PISHING 



CHAPTER XV. 1 

A touching Ceremony — A Sailor's Grave- -I turn Boatman — 
Life in the Isle of France — Seeking Employment — Joe Rodg- 
ers — A Bullock Drogher — Tamative Bay — The place of 
Sculls — Hump cattle — Our return Passage — Taming wild 
Cattle — Sancho — His docility — Meeting Ashore — Difficulty 
of leaving so warm a Friend — A Wedding. 

On the first Sabbath after I canie ashore I was 
witness, in my capacity of captain of a boat, to 
the performance of a very touching ceremony. I 
had been informed on the preceding day, by Ange- 
lique, that she and certain of her friends expected 
me to ferry them across the harbor to the city 
cemetery. 

Accordingly, at early dawn I was summoned, 
and repairing, in company with my little Malabar 
assistant, to the boat, found her already laden with 
fourteen or fifteen young girls dressed in pure 
white, and each with an armfull of flowers. We 
hoisted our sail, and just as the sun rose glided 
gently across the smooth surface of the bay, 
toward the western headland. Several other 
boats, freighted like mine, were ahead and astern 
of us, bound on a like errand with us. Low, 
plaintive songs resounded from the boats across 



"BRING FLOWERS. 271 

the still waters of tlie "bay. The scene was very 
beautiful. 

Half an hour's slow sailing brought us to the 
opposite shore, where my passengers debarked. 
I accompanied them to the burying-ground near 
by. Here the flowers each had brought were 
strewn over the graves of departed relatives and 
friends. The mounds and tombstones were nicely 
cleared of all rubbish, and their floral offerings 
were placed at the head and feet. 

As the maidens, in their white and flowing dra- 
pery, glided noiselessly yet cheerfully from grave 
to grave, doing kind offices to the resting places 
of their friends, and scattering beautiful flowers 
over their remains, they seemed like a chorus of 
blest spirits come down to summon loved ones 
to their homes. Occasionally a low sob or wail 
from some mourner for the recently departed, 
would break upon the ear, but otherwise all was 
silent as the graves we wandered amid. 

In looking among the mounds by which the 
whole surface of the old cemetery was broken, I 
came upon a rude wooden cross, worm eaten and 
weather beaten, fast mingling its dust with his 
who lay below. Upon the horizontal piece were 
cut in rude letters, probably done with a sailor's 
jack-knife, the words, 

" Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling." 

It was the last resting place of some poor 
weather-beaten sailor who had found here, far 



272 WHALING AND PISHING. 

away from home and friends, the peace he had 
sought in vain during a hard and perilous life. 
He too was thought of by some kind flower dis- 
penser. The dead leaves and rubbish had been 
nicely swept away from the sod-covered grave, 
and two beautiful flower wreaths lay upon it. 
Poor fellow — in all his lonely seaman's life he had 
possibly never met with so much kindness. 

On inquiry I learned that it was customary 
every Sunday morning thus to decorate the graves 
of friends and acquaintances, the boatmen of the 
harbor on these occasions doing volunteer service, 
to aid the undertaking. 

~My life was now for some time very much hap- 
pier than it had been for a long period past. I 
was free : and the remembrance of my slavery on 
board the whaleship was yet sufficiently vivid in 
my mind to make me appreciate very keenly the 
new liberty. I was, for a sailor, pleasantly situated. 
My work was light and pleasant, the pay regular 
and sufficient to support me ; and my associates, 
if not very intelligent, were yet good, and well- 
meaning toward me. 

Angelique, who proved a noble girl, seemed sin- 
gularly enough to have bestowed upon me al^the 
affection she had entertained for her deceased 
brother. She not only interested herself in my 
little affairs, but prevailed upon her lover, who 
was captain of a little coasting schooner, to 
introduce me to the captains of the French bul- 
lock droghers, in order that I might, when once 



REFLECTIONS. 273 

more ready for sea, have no difficulty in obtain- 
ing a berth on board a country vessel. She had 
resolved that I should become a settler in the 
country, never to return to Britain or America. 

My occupation as boatman continued four weeks. 
By this time I was able to make for myself another 
opening. I entered a stevedore's gang, and tugged 
manfully at sugar bags all day, content to return 
to my nicely fitted room at night, the richer by 
two rupees, and with a certainty that no storm, 
however severe, could disturb my sleep. 

But soon " the demon of unrest " again stirred 
within me. To be sure, the life I led pleased me 
to a certain extent. So well, indeed, that I too 
shortly began to entertain the idea of spending 
some years, if not the balance of my life, in the 
Mauritius and the Indian seas. Once in a while, 
however, the thought would arise, that I was not 
surrounded by just such society as was most con- 
genial to me, and that in the mode of life I thought 
of adopting, there was nothing improving or 
elevating. 

But eight years at sea had pretty effectually 
scotched any aspirations for a higher position 
which I might once have entertained. Life — the 
sailor's life, the only one of which I now had any 
well shaped idea — seemed at best but a trouble- 
some and tiresome struggle. And so I brought 
myself to think the vegetative existence of man 
upon an out of the way place like the Mauritius, 
at least better than a more toilsome life in more 
18 



274 WHALING AND FISHING. 

civilized parts. Some indolence, some hopeless- 
ness, and a vehement desire for once to enjoy life, 
probably brought me to this conclusion. 

And to this will come every one who takes to 
the sea for a livelihood. It is very well to theo- 
rize on the ennobling and elevating character of a 
perilous life like that of the seaman. It is true, 
beyond doubt, that in those scenes where he con- 
tends with and overcomes the powers of nature, 
his spirit, let it be sunk low as it will, is refreshed 
and elevated. But the excitement once over, the 
life is altogether too commonplace, too void of 
purpose to keep up a manful spirit. Its degrada- 
tion is too great, its associations too wretched to 
leave the aspiring soul room for a better hope. 

And so the sailor boy wiio has leaped into life 
with a trustful determination to do and dare, and 
deserve at least the good will of his fellow men, 
emerges into manhood with all of good within 
him, not killed, but fearfully crushed beneath the 
weight of evil and down -dragging associations. 
And so — I began to look for a shrp, content to do 
as others did, satisfied to accept the place aj>pa- 
rently determined for me by fate, and willing to 
make the best of it. 

Wanting a ship, and getting one, seem to be 
entirely different things in Port Louis. My 
friends the French captains were, unfortunately 
for me, all gone on their voyages, the regular sea- 
son for starting on a long trip to the Red Sea 
having arrived while I was still boating. Work 



SEEKING A BERTH. 275 

was no longer to be obtained in sufficiency to 
make me contented, and so, rather than wait for 
better times, I essayed to procure myself a berth 
in some one of the British country ships which 
traded to the Mauritius. 

Day after day I dressed myself in my best, 
and presented myself to some captain or mate 
to ask for a chance. Day after day I walked 
the mole, looking longingly at the departing ves- 
sels, and listening with sinking heart to the cheer- 
ful songs of those who had what I wanted — 
employment. 

To be sure, there were ships for England. But 
thither I would not now go. The difficulties in 
the way of remaining in the Indies only endeared 
the prospect to me. And my determination in 
this regard was now strengthened by that of a 
friend whom I had found on shore ; a noble fel- 
low, between whom and myself there shortly ex- 
isted a bond warmer than is common even among 
sailors. 

• Poor Joe Eodgers had already several years' 
experience of the Indies. He owned it to be a 
dog's life. 

"Hard work, poor pay, and you have almost to 
beg for a ship, when you once get adrift, Charley," 
said he to me. "But I dare not return home as I 
am." 

He too was an American. He too had set out to 
sea with romantic notions of a life which he was 
now old enough to view in all its cheerless, hopeless 



276 WHALING AND FISHING. 

degradation. To return home was the strongest 
desire of his heart. But to return home penni- 
less, after years of hard struggle — to be sneered 
at by those wiseacres whose advice he as a boy 
bad scorned — to go back to his native village not 
only having done nothing heretofore, but with the 
sonsciousness that he was now worthless for any 
other life than that which had grown to be a part 
of him — this he could not do. 

" And so I guess we'll have to rough it in the 
[ndies as long as we can stand it, and when it 
grows unendurable, Charley, a trip to Batavia 
will finish poor Jack." 

At first, while yet the cheerful jingle of a few 
rupees in our pockets kept us in spirits, we could 
think of nothing but sailing together. But ere 
long it became evident that even this poor plea- 
sure would be denied us, and we would be com- 
pelled to look for separate chances. One day I 
boarded a vessel bound to Arracan, at the head 
of the bay of Bengal. The captain wanted a sea- 
conny, and agreed to take me. There was no 
other chance. Joe and myself would have to 
part. 

With a rather heavy heart I returned to the 
shore, to tell him of my questionable luck. The 
voyage was good, but we did not want to part. 
We talked matters over. Joe had been some 
weeks longer on shore than I, and I felt that to 
him of right belonged the first chance, if we were 
to be parted. Accordingly, I proposed to him to 



TO TAMATAVE. 277 

go to Arracan, while I looked for another vessel. 
And he, who was nearly at the end of the little 
money he had brought on shore with him, reluc- 
tantly accepted my offer. 

On the following day, the captain stating him- 
self willing to make the exchange, Joe took his 
things on board. The vessel sailed, and I saw his 
face no more. 

Two days afterward I procured a berth as sea- 
conny on board a Tamatave bullock trader. The 
news had just arrived at the Isle of France that 
the despotic queen of Madagascar, who had for a 
long time kept every trading port on the eastern 
side of her island hermetically sealed to foreign 
vessels, had at length been induced to open the 
harbor of Tamatave to trade. 

The Isle of France is entirely dependent on 
Madagascar and the African coast for beef-cattle. 
!N"one are raised on the island, which is devoted 
almost entirely to the culture of sugar. The 
Madagascar coast is only three days' sail distant, 
while the nearest point on the African coast can 
not be reached under twelve days. Of course the 
Madagascar trade is of great advantage to the 
Mauritius. 

All was at once bustle and business among the 
bullock traders, on receiving the news of a re- 
newal of trade. Our vessel was among the first 
to reach the newly opened port. The trade winds 
swept us down in three days and a half. "We 
found cattle enough on the white beach before the 



278 WHALING AND FISHING. 

town to load a dozen vessels. The natives were 
moderately civil, but evidently not at all cordial. 
But it was their cattle and not themselves we 
wanted ; and so, the business being conducted on 
the cash and one price principle, there was but 
little difficulty in our intercourse with them. 

The large hump cattle were brought alongside, 
one at a time, in native canoes. We hoisted them 
in and bestowed them in the hold, in stalls pre- 
pared for them. 

On the second day after our arrival in port, I, 
with the other seaconnies, took a walk up to the 
town, which is situated, in Madagascar fashion, 
upon a hill, a quarter of a mile from the beach. 
It consisted of an assemblage of most wretched 
looking huts, dark and poorly fitted within, and 
unprepossessing without. A mud wall surrounded 
the place, and with a moat, formed its chief de- 
fense against an enemy. 

Over the gate at which we entered, twenty 
human sculls were ranged in a semi- circle. These, 
now bleached by several rainy seasons, were once 
the property of some English sailors, who fell 
into the hands of the natives while making an 
attack upon the town some years before 

When news reached the governor of the Mauri- 
tius that these barbarous trophies were yet dis- 
played before the eyes of British and French 
traders, a remonstrance and request for their 
deliverance into the hands of a British agent, for 
decent burial, was despatched to the Madagascar 



OUR CARGO. 279 

chiefs who ruled that part of the coast. The 
reply from the queen was, that the sculls must 
remain where they were placed r and that if Brit- 
ish merchants and seamen found themselves in- 
jured in feelings by this display, they need not 
come there to trade. As Tamatave is important 
on account of its nearness to Port Louis, and the 
quantity of bullocks brought there from the inte- 
rior, it was resolved to pocket the affront and con- 
tinue the trade. 

We remained but three days in the bay. Our 
passage to Port Louis lasted seventeen days. The 
fair wind down was of course dead ahead when 
returning, and we were forced to beat to wind- 
ward every inch of the way. 

It is singular how quickly on board ship the 
most ferocious animal becomes tame and docile. 
The cattle of Madagascar are noted for their wild- 
ness and savage temper. Yet we were scarcely a 
week at sea ere every one of the one hundred and 
twenty which formed our cargo knew the voice 
of his attendant, and was perfectly tractable and 
obedient to command. 

Before we reached Port Louis many of the finest 
animals, who were much caressed by the crew, 
grew to know individual visitors to their places 
of confinement. I remember well one noble fel- 
low, who had killed a Madagascar man on shore 
before we took him on board, and who for two or 
three days gave the cattle tenders more trouble 
than any half dozen others. He was as fine 



280 WHALING AND FISHING. 

a specimen of his kind as ever I saw, and excited 
universal admiration when we got him on deck. 

"Well, this savage fellow gradually came under 
the influence of man, and at the end of the first 
week out was already as tame as need be. He 
was my favorite. I frequently walked to his stall 
with a handfull of salt, or an armfull of feed. 
And shortly he would low gently at my approach, 
and if I stood near enough to him, would hold out 
his great head to be scratched, permitting me to 
handle the horns which but a few days before had 
impaled a Madagassy. He could distinguish me 
from all others, even at some distance, and would 
manifest pleasure even at the sound of my voice. 
Many of the cattle had names given them by 
their especial friends among the crew. Thus 
the Malabars had two favorites whom they called 
respectively Abdallah and Mohammed Ali. I called 
my huge friend, Sancho, and by this name he was 
shortly known to all on board. 

When our cargo was landed at Port Louis, I 
took a farewell of Sancho. But some days after- 
ward, while rambling over a beautiful pasture 
some miles from the city, I unknowingly ap- 
proached a herd of cattle. I was about to retreat — • 
for the hump cattle quite frequently attack stran- 
gers — when a mighty animal came running toward 
me, head down and tail high in air. I thought 
my end was nigh, and looked about rather de- 
spairingly for an avenue of retreat, when I recog- 
nized in the advancing brute my old friend 



SANCHO. 281 

Sancho. Somewhat reassured, I awaited his ap- 
proach, I should have run, had there been a 
place of security at reasonable distance. But 
from my position to the nearest tree or fence was 
such a distance as that in a race I would certainly 
have been overtaken. "When Sancho came within 
a short distance, I spoke his name. At this he 
grew almost frantic, and began such a series of 
ungainly capers about me, that though in immi- 
nent fear of being crushed by him in his elephan- 
tine manifestations of joy, I had to laugh heartily. 

"When he was a little quieted, I advanced and 
stroked his bushy head and handled his horns, 
whereat he seemed as pleased as a child would be 
at the caress of a friend. The other cattle mean- 
while gathered around at various distances, sus- 
piciously watching my movements, and evidently 
much at a loss to know the import of Sancho's 
actions. 

After paying my huge friend such attentions as 
I thought would be mutually agreeable, I turned 
to leave. But this motion he strenuously resisted. 
Turn which way I would, he got before me, and 
insisted on further attention. The nearest fence 
was some hundred yards off, and I saw no way of 
getting there with his opposition. "When I per- 
sistently moved on, he would recommence his 
huge gambols in such close proximity to my 
person as to make me glad to stop. He would 
toss his head and leap about me madly, sha- 
king his ungainly hump, and making altogether 



282 WHALING AND PISHING. 

unmistakable demonstrations of the pleasure he 
found in my society, as well as of his determina- 
tion not to forego that pleasure for some time. 
Moreover, the balance of the herd, nearly a hun- 
dred huge bulls, followed implicitly the motions 
of my friend, and threatened by their sympathetic 
rejoicings to become exceedingly troublesome. 

I was soon aware that a good degree of gener- 
alship would be necessary to get safely away. I 
plucked some grass, and Sancho, appeased, good- 
naturedly ate it from my hand. I moved slowly 
on, gathering grass as I went, and thus keeping 
his susj>icions at rest. In the course of half an 
hour I found myself by this means within a short 
distaDC.e of the fence. Picking out a part easy to 
leap over, I gradually approached it, and finally, 
with a quick spring placed it between myself and 
my troublesome friend. 

This violation of confidence aroused his fury ; 
and with glaring eyes and angry toss of the head 
he pawed the ground, and bellowed hoarsely at 
me. I, meantime, not knowing but he might 
attempt to follow me even over the fence, made 
good headway toward a turn in the road, where 
I should get out of sight, and I hoped out of mind. 
This was my last visit. A week after, with many 
compunctions of conscience, I ate a steak cut from 
Sancho's fore quarter. 

Upon my return to Port Louis from Tamatave, 
my good friend Mademoiselle Angelique was mar- 
ried. I attended the wedding, as her adopted 



A WEDDING. 283 

brother, and was much delighted at the charming 
simplicity with which everything was conducted. 
Most of the French Islanders are Eoman Catholics. 
Angelique and her intended husband, Captain 
Alexandre, were nominally so ; and of course the 
marriage ceremony was pronounced by the Priest, 
at a little church situated in the native quarter. 
The bride and groom walked together from the 
house of the former, to the church, preceded and 
attended by a company of young girls, dressed in 
white. These strewed flowers on the way, and 
sung verses suited to the occasion, to a simple 
and beautiful air. 

At the church door they were received by such 
of the bridegroom's male acquaintance as had 
been invited to attend. The attendant maidens 
entered the church, singing and casting flowers 
about, until they reached the altar, where they 
formed in order on each side, leaving a middle 
space for the happy couple. These took their 
places, and the male friends formed a semicircle 
outside of all. The ceremony was then performed 
by the Priest. I presume it was the common 
ceremonial of the Eoman Church. Near its close 
one of the maidens handed to the bridegroom 
a beautiful wreath of white flowers, which he 
placed upon the head of his bride. She was 
dressed in pure white, with a small gold cross 
suspended by a thin gold chain from her neck. 
The bridegroom was clothed in a check shirt, and 



284 WHALING AND FISHING. 

handsome blue jacket and trowsers. They were 
a fine looking couple. 

At the close of the ceremony, flowers were show- 
ered down upon the bridal pair until I thought 
they would be smothered under the load. Then, 
amid another and more solemn chant from the 
attendant maidens, the party left the church; the 
newly married couple walking hand in hand like 
little children. 

All now walked to the groom's house, situated a 
little distance in the country. Here some matrons 
and old men were in waiting, with presents of 
necessary household articles, of no great value, 
but altogether helping very materially to make 
the young pair comfortable. As each one pre- 
sented his or her gift, a kiss and a graceful 
" merci " from the bride was given as reward. An 
ample supply of fruits and wine was then laid out 
on mats "upon the green, beneath the shade of 
some cocoa nut palms, and here the day was passed 
in quiet enjoyment, the evening closing with a 
dance upon the green sward, to the music of a 
most wretchedly played guitar. 



THE BRIG ANNIE. 285 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Annie — Her Captain — I Ship in her — Our Crew — A Clip- 
per's Forecastle — Sleeping Dis-accommodations — Steering — 
" Humbugging " — Planning a Mutiny — Counter Planning — 
The African Coast — Algoa Bay — The Anchorage — Surf-boats 
— Cape Boors — A South Easter — A Double Wreck — Lloyd's 
Agent. 

Upon my return from Tamatave I left the vessel 
I had sailed thither in. She was going to Calcutta, 
and thence to London. I desired to go nowhere 
just then, without having at least a fair prospect 
of being able to return to the Isle of France. 1 
was so fortunate as to obtain in a few days, a berth 
in a little Scotch brig, bound to Algoa Bay, on 
the African Coast. 

■ The Annie — that was the brig's name — was a 
beautiful little craft of about two hundred tons 
burthen. I had often heard old sea dogs tell of 
vessels that they loved almost better than them- 
selves. This was such a one. Her loDg, low, 
gracefully curving hull, her sharp, keen bow, and 
clean cut run, her taunt, tapering masts, and vast 
yards, almost heavy enough for a vessel of twice 
her size, the jaunty, reckless, yet neat air of every- 



286 WHALING AND FISHING. 

thing, alow and aloft : all these tended to make 
her the delight of a true seaman, proving, as they 
did, that she was a clipper in every sense of the 
word. 

She came into port on the same day with us, 
and as she easily glided past us, with a light 
breeze, all hands congregated on our deck to look 
at and admire her. I think I never saw so perfect 
a little craft, or one so consistently rigged and 
fitted throughout. To my rather matter of fact 
spirit, it had always seemed an absurdity to love 
a vessel. But this time I was forced myself to 
entertain the feeling. She was a beauty, and as I 
stood in silence examining her matchless hull, no 
line or curve of which, but was artistically true, 
I owned, with an inward smile, that this was 
really a case of "love at first sight." 

" That's the vessel I am going in next voyage," 
said I to one of the other sea-connies. 

" You'd better keep out of her. Her captain is 
the meanest Scotchman that ever lived. And 
moreover the mate is his brother. The man that 
ships in her will smell brimstone, I can assure 
you." 

"Brimstone or no brimstone," thought I, "that's 
my ship, if I can prevail on the captain to carry 
me." 

On farther inquiry I learnt that the Annie's 
Captain was indeed a tyrant, and that the little 
beauty never carried the same crew two voyages. 



A SUSPICIOUS CRAFT. 287 

Nevertheless, the vessel was not to he driven from 
my mind, and I determined to risk at least one 
trip in her. 

I hoarded her the following day, and heard from 
her crew that they were all going to leave. 

" ~No white man can stand such a wretch two 
voyages," said an old tar to me. "You have no 
thought of going in her, have you, hoy? " 

I hesitatingly acknowledged my desire to make 
a voyage in the Annie. 

" You're a fool — that's all. But you're in love 
with the little craft." 

" Small hlame to him," spoke up another of the 
crew. " Sure, every one of us was in the same fix 
this day two months ago." 

" Well, she's a darling," said a third, with a sigh, 
"hut the master is the devil." 

I could not find out in what respect the captain 
resembled the individual last mentioned. Her 
crew were going to leave ; and with a jealousy 
somewhat characteristic of British seamen, pre- 
ferred to let me learn hy experience the disagree- 
able traits in the captain's character. 

So I determined not to be frightened at shadows, 
but being able to do my duty, to ship in her, fear- 
less of consequences. When the captain made his 
appearance on deck, I walked aft, and asked him 
for a berth for his next voyage, 
j " You're a Yankee lad, are you not? " he asked. 

I replied in the affirmative. 

"Have you heard any thing about me ashore?" 



288 WHALING AND FISHING. 

I hesitatingly replied that he was scarcely in 
the odor of sanctity with those who had sailed 
with him. 

" I suppose not. But if you can do your duty, 
you need not be afraid of the Annie. If you can't 
you had better never look this way again. If you 
want me to ship you, come aboard to-morrow 
morning at 10 o'clock, and sign the articles. The 
wages are two pounds seven and sixpence, and 
small stores." 

All this was said in a Scotch way, which I could 
hardly understand, and I noticed that occasionally 
when he spoke a word to his mate, it sounded like 
anything else but English to me. But "what's 
the odds, so long as you're happy," thought I; 
and determined, no matter what was told me of 
the officers, to go at least one trip in the little 
craft. Accordingly, on the following morning I 
signed the Annie's articles, binding myself to go 
" to Algoa Bay, or Port Elizabeth ; thence to such 
other ports on the coast of Africa as the captain 
may direct; and return to Port Louis." 

The vessel was to sail in five days, and her crew 
was not wanted on board till the day before she 
left port. I had therefore some days before me, 
wherein to prepare myself for the voyage. I found 
that wherever I happened among the seamen then 
ashore, the news of my shipping in the Annie had 
preceded me. Yarious were the comments made 
upon this piece of rashness. Those who were 
well disposed toward me urged me to back out. 



the annie's crew. 289 

Those who did not know me, except casually, 
chuckled with delight that " that Yankee fellow " 
was taken in. Captain McDonald, and his brother 
the mate, I found were well known in Port Louis, 
as a pair of arrant tyrants, to be in whose power 
might be justly thought a calamity. Even cap- 
tain Alexandre, the husband of Angelique, urged 
me to back out from my agreement, and wait for 
a better chance. 

But my mind was made up. Some one must go 
in the vessel, thought I, and if any one could stand 
it, I could. So I was shortly given over as an 
impracticable. 

On the fourth day I rendered myself on board. 
I found the four men already in the forecastle, who 
were, with myself, to form her crew. They were 
a rough looking set. 

" You're Yankee Charley, that lives up in Mala- 
bar town ?" queried one, after we had taken a good 
look at one another. 

"At your service." 
• "Where's Joe Eogers, that used to live with 
you?" 

" He went to Arracan, in the brig Talliho." 

"I wish he were with us. He's the best fellow 
that ever I sailed with. He's true blue." 

"Well, young one," said the oldest of the crew 
to me, "you've heard about the officers of this 
little craft. They're a pair of bloody scoundrels, 
and we must show a firm front, or they will lead 
us a wretched life." 
19 



290 WHALING AND FISHING. 

" Count me in," said I, knowing that a determi- 
nation expressed in few words was best suited 
to the minds of British tars. 

" That's right. If he's down on one, he's down 
on all ; and if he attempts to curse any one, curse 
him back, from the word go. 

" The main thing," said another, "is to do our 
duty like men. Then if he growls, we shall be 
in the right." 

I think if our captain had known what was 
going on in the forecastle, he would scarcely have 
been willing to carry us as his crew. Meantime, 
we made ourselves comfortable in our new home. 
Owing to the sharpness of the vessel, the fore- 
castle was an exceedingly narrow hole, in which 
five men had just room to stand up together, but 
certainly not enough to sit down. Fortunately 
but two of us had chests. The balance were old 
coast rangers, and kept their clothes in bags, 
which served for pillows. 

Being the last one on board, 1 had a forward 
berth left for my use. This was so narrow that I 
found it, on trial, impossible to lie straight in it. 
My shoulders were broader than the berth space, 
and the only way in which I could rest was by 
lying upon one side. 

" You'll have to get out to turn over, my fine 
fellow," said one who had been watching me while 
adjusting myself to the space. 

And this proved to be true. Whenever, during 
my sleep, I got tired of lying upon one side, I was 



STEERING A CLIPPER. 291 

obliged to get out and carefully crowd myself in 
on the other. 

" That comes of going in a clipper," remarked 
one who was as unfortunate as myself in his 
sleeping place. 

The first day on hoard was passed in idleness. 
After washing the deck, we were told there was 
nothing more to do. So I sat down to a hook, 
while my shipmates played cards, smoked, and 
talked over old times. They were a tolerably 
hard set ; and I thought, not without satisfaction, 
that our officers would gain but very little by any 
but the most civil conduct toward us. 

At daylight on the following morning, we cast 
loose from our moorings, and dropped down the 
harbor. Once clear of the shipping, all sail was 
set, and we glided quickly seaward. 

" Send Yankee Charley aft, to the wheel ! " 
shouted the skipper. 

I proceeded aft. 

" Keep her straight. She steers like a boat ; and 
I count half a quarter of point a good bit out of 
the way. If you watch her closely, she need not 
go off her course at all." 

Now a quarter of a point off, or to, is consid- 
ered pretty good steering in most vessels. So 
that this narrowing down to half a quarter was by 
by no means comfortable. Nevertheless, as I 
was always counted a good helmsman, I cared lit- 
tle for what the skipper said — content to rest up- 
on laurels already won in that line. 



292 WHALING AND FISHING. 

I found the little craft to steer very nicely — as 
indeed was to be expected, from her build. A 
spoke of the wheel either way, was quite suffi- 
cient to keep her along straight. But I never 
before saw any one watch the compass so closely 
as did our captain. He seemed to make this his sole 
business. If he was walking the quarter deck, he 
looked into the binnacle every time he passed it. 
If he was talking to the mate, he would stop in 
the middle of a sentence to ask how she headed 
"exactly." If he was obliged to walk forward, he 
kept his eyes constantly ahead, to see how much 
she swung about. And as it was necessary that 
he should sometimes — at meals, and during the 
night — be below, he had prepared himself for this 
by having the steering compass placed in the cabin 
sky-light, and having it fitted with a transparent 
card and bottomless box, so that by looking up 
from where he eat or slept, he could know as well 
as the steersman how she headed. 

All this was excessively disagreeable. To steer 
is, under any circumstances, the most irksome task 
which falls to the lot of the foremast hand. It 
requires unceasing vigilance, and an entire con- 
centration of thought upon one object — the ves- 
sel's course. The mere skill necessary to guide a 
ship is the least part of the accomplishment. 
With so quick motioned a little craft as the Annie, 
a constant watch was necessary, to keep her from 
shooting off her course. With this unceasing care, 
it was quite possible to keep her exactly upon her 



"WORKING UP" A CREW. 293 

course, as was indeed often done on this voyage — 
the vessel not swerving a hair's breadth, some- 
times for an hour. 

But the slightest inattention was sure to he 
followed by a" now then, where are you off to 
now?" from the skipper; an unwelcome reminder 
that she was off her course. 

Thus it came about that shortly the trick at 
the wheel was regarded as the worst of each one's 
labor, while the man who found it so convenient 
to sleep and eat and walk about under or in the 
immediate vicinity of the compass was rightly 
thought a tyrant. 

This was only one way in which the exacting 
spirit of our Scotch skipper showed itself. His 
vessel was a clipper : 

" She can sail," said he, "and it is my pleasure to 
have every thing done that will facilitate her speed." 

So every morning at daylight, and every day 
at noon, and every evening, and sometimes (if he 
happened to be awake) at midnight, tacks, sheets, 
halyards, braces and bowlines were swayed home, 
thus keeping one watch on deck half an hour 
longer than necessary, besides forcing all hands to 
a labor which every one knew was not at all 
necessary. For so taut were the ropes sometimes, 
that it was actually necessary to ease them off 
again during the succeeding watch — only however, 
to be again swayed home when the watches were 
changed. 



294 WHALING AND FISHING. 

In addition to this, the decks of the little craft 
were holy-stoned every morning for at least an 
hour : until we one night emptied the sand neces- 
sary to this labor, over board. After that the 
paint work received a double share of attention, 
and even the masts were scrubbed ; while any 
spare time in the morning watch was devoted to 
brightening up the brass-work, of which this 
daintily fitted little vessel had as much as many a 
frigate. All this kind of labor is irritating to sea- 
men. They call it humbuggery. To work hard 
from daylight till dark, at the vessel's rigging or 
sails, where perhaps every bit of sea lore they 
may be possessed of is brought into service, would 
not be thought disagreeable. But to set a parcel 
of old tars at scrubbing paint- work, brightening 
brass rigging caps and capstan heads, and knock- 
ing rust-scales from the iron work, will produce 
mutinous thoughts sooner than any other course 
of treatment. 

So it came about, that ere we were a week out, 
as I came forward from the wheel one day at noon, 
a plan was being discussed, by which we, the crew, 
were to take possession of the vessel, getting rid 
of the officers as best we might. The reckless fel- 
lows laughed heartily at my serious face when 
the project was bluntly laid before me. 

"As for Jimmy" — the mate — "I can easily put 
him over the taffrail any night when I am at the 
wheel, for the booby regularly goes to sleep when 



PLANNING A MUTINY. 295 

lie has tlie midwatch upon deck," said a Scotch- 
man, between whom and the mate there was 
a standing grudge. 

" And the skipper wouldn't give us much trouble. 
Only bring the vessel in the wind once, and he'd 
rush right into our arms. 

" And then just think that this little craft — and 
by all that's good, she's the smartest and prettiest 
little thing that ever I saw — just think that she'll 
be our own." 

" Look out ; here comes the mate," said I seeing 
that worthy approach. So the conversation was 
closed for the time. I did not sleep, that afternoon 
watch. I had sufficient subject for thought. It 
was evident that although the matter of a mutiny 
had been broached at noon in a kind of semi-joc- 
ular way, there was that in the hearts of some 
which it would require but an accidental excess 
on the captain's part to fan into a flame of action. 
How to prevent this was now a matter for very 
serious consideration. 

To withold my consent would perhaps have 
some influence on their actions — for although I 
was physically the slightest of our crew, they had 
all somehow got a liking for me. But this would 
not answer all objections. After a couple of hours 
study, it finally occurred to me that the whole 
plan was certainly not yet matured, and I deter- 
mined to hinder its farther progress, by showing 
up as clearly as I could its impracticability. 

That evening in the dog watch, a young lad was 



296 WHALING AND FISHING. 

sent to the wheel, and the rest of us congregated 
before the windlass to have another talk over the 
matter. 

"You see, Charley," said our Scotchman, "the 
thing is as easily done, as turning over your hand." 

" But what are you going to do afterward ? " I 
enquired. 

" Oh, we'll sail about till our provisions are out, 
and then run in to some out of the way place to 
get some more." 

" Where's the money to purchase more ? " 

" That's a fact. I heard it stated at Port Louis, 
that our skipper always sends his money by 
another vessel. Having an agent at Algoa Bay, 
he don't need much." 

"Besides which," suggested I, "if the Annie 
don't arrive at her port in proper time, you'll see 
some man-of-war brig after her in double quick 
time." 

" I have yet to see the brig, or sloop, or frigate, 
that could catch the Annie, sailing on a bowline, 
or in fact, any other way." 

" "What do you propose to do with the brig, 
when you have got her in your power? " I asked. 

"Keep her or sell her, as may seem best." 

"You can't sell her, for no one will believe you 
came rightfully by her, and who ever you offer 
her to, if rascal enough to buy her of you, would 
be also rascal enough to put you in jail till you 
gave a better account of yourself than you could 
do." 



THWARTING THE PLAN. 297 

"Well, we'll keep her." 

" Yes, and be caught in her, and hung up to her 
yard-arms. Not I for one," here broke in a tall 
Irishman, who had not before said much. 

" There's some fine spots among the South Sea- 
Islands. Let us go for instance to Ocean Island 
in her, and there break her up, or wreck her 
before we get in." 

Now was my time to sum up the case ; and 
drawing a long breath, I was about to commence 
such a setting forth of the whole matter as should 
show them the unsafeness, as well as the unsatis- 
factoriness of any one of their proposed modes of 
action, when the sharp voice of the captain was 
heard, shouting — 

" Do you hear there ? Lay aft here, and sway 
up this topsail ! The leech is hanging in a bight ! " 

"Aye, aye, sir," sung out Scotch Jack; adding 
in an under tone, " Blast you, I wish you were at 
the other end of the halyards." 

We swayed up the top-sail, then pulled home 
the top-gallant sheets, swayed up the top-gallant- 
sail, and finished with the royal. 

" JSTow, we'll take a pull at the forward hal- 
yards," said the skipper; who was never so well 
pleased as when he was bowsing taut a rope — ■ 
or rather ordering others to do so. 

After half an hour's straining and hallooing, 
every rope was again taut as a harpstring, and 
we were told that "that would do, till the mid 
watch." It was by this time eight bells ; the 



298 WHALING AND PISHING. 

watch was set, and all farther deliberation was 
over for the night. I did not fear any precipitate 
action on the part of my evil-inclined shipmates, 
well knowing that those who talk most in such 
matters are generally slowest to act. I trusted, 
besides, that the words of caution I had thrown 
out, would not be without fruit in their minds. 

In this I was not deceived ; for when, on the fol- 
lowing evening all hands were once more gath- 
ered on the forecastle, every one but Scotch Jack 
declared the execution of their project to be 
attended with more difficulties than they had at 
first sight thought. 

I now determined to place all the impossibility 
of success before them in its strongest light. Ac- 
cordingly, after listening for some time to new 
suggestions, and even throwing out one or two 
myself, I began : 

" You can't sell the vessel, boys : that's clear. 
You can't keep her — that is equally plain. She's 
too pretty a craft to be broken up in the surf; and 
besides, if you want to go to Ocean Island or any- 
where else in the South Seas, you have all been to 
Sydney, and have only to go there again and ship 
for the very place you want to settle down in. As 
for the skipper's working up — we all owe him a 
spite, and the greatest satisfaction will be to give 
him and the mate a thundering beating, when we 
get back to Port Louis. If ever he comes into 
Malabar town, he won't leave it with a whole skin, 
if I know it." 



THE AFRICAN COAST. 299 

With this piece, half of reasoning, half of brag- 
gadocio, I lit my segar, confident I had given a 
death-blow to our harmless little conspiracy. 

" It's just as Yankee Charley says, boys, ' spoke 
one, after a long silence, during which all had 
evidently been chewing the cud of reflection. " It's 
not fit that British sailors should toss sleeping 
men overboard, or knock defenseless men on the 
head. It looks too much like a parcel of misera- 
ble Portuguese. But if either skipper or mate will 
fight me, man fashion, when we get ashore, I'll 
give them such a pair of black peepers as you 
won't find this side of London bridge, or Donny- 
brook Fair." 

This was the last of what was afterward called 
"our pet conspiracy." Had our passage been a 
tedious one, I am not certain but that it would 
have been again revived. Happily, however, for 
all concerned, it lasted but fourteen days, and for 
three of these fourteen we were in sight of the Af- 
rican coast. It takes longer than two weeks to 
hatch out a mutiny — a fact in ornithology to 
which, perhaps, our rascally ofiicers owed more 
than they were aware. 

We made the coast at some distance to the north 
of our port. Here, the African land, which I now 
beheld plainly for the second time, was high, and 
apparently barren — very unattractive indeed, and 
with its yellow sandy hills, realizing somehow, 
my conception of the Great Desert. As we ap- 
proached Algoa Bay, the bluffs disappeared, and 



300 WHALING AND FISHING. 

low islets and sand-banks took their place — mak- 
ing the prospect yet more dreary. 

The bay itself is wide and shallow. It affords 
but an insecure anchorage, and would not be fre- 
quented, were there a better one within a hundred 
miles. The town is situated on rising ground, 
facing the roadstead. Its white, clean looking 
houses present a very pleasing appearance. A 
fortress, called Fort Frederic, crowns a hill adja- 
cent to the town. Fort Elizabeth is situated at 
the mouth of Baasheer river, which flows into the 
bay, near the town. 

Algoa Bay is distant from Cape Town four hun- 
dred and twenty-five miles. Capes Padron and 
.Recife are the j^romontories by which it is bounded. 
The settlement belongs to, and is under the control 
of the Government at the Cape of Good Hope. 
The entire district, as far as Port Natal, some dis- 
tance North of Algoa Bay, is known generally as 
the Cape Colony. 

Algoa Bay is rather an open roadstead than a 
safe harbor. Yessels lie at from one to two miles 
from the shore, with which they communicate by 
means of surf-boats. TJjdoii entering the roads, the 
captain chooses a berth for his vessel, and there 
brings her to, with two anchors. One hundred 
fathoms of cable are paid out on each anchor. 
The swell of the Ocean beats in here with the 
wind at the South-east, and makes rough riding. 
It is at all times necessary to keep an anchor 
watch. 



STJRF-BOATS. 301 

A South-easter almost always sends some vessels 
ashore. The beach, which rises gradually from 
the bottom, is composed of sand. When a vessel 
once begins to drag, there is but little hope for 
her. She goes ashore, taking with her all who 
come athwart her hawse while drifting. Yessels 
are generally, in such cases, washed high and dry. 
There is but little danger to life, and sometimes 
the crew get off without even wetting their feet. 

Our first operation, after anchoring, was to send 
down topgallant and royal yards, and house top- 
gallantmasts. Larger vessels, which were to wait 
some months for cargo, had their topmasts housed, 
and topsail yards on deck. But as we were to 
remain but a very few days, our preparations 
were not so extensive. 

This sending down top-hamper very much 
lightens the strain upon the anchors, as of course 
the wind, which in a gale bears with it a very 
tangible pressure, meets less resistance aloft. It 
is a practice very common in the Indies, where 
harbors are poorly sheltered, anchorage is unsafe, 
and periodical hurricanes sweep with almost 
resistless force across the surface of the sea. 

Our only communication with the shore was by 
means of surf-boats. These are large, roomy 
boats, sharp at both ends, and capable of bearing 
from three to six tons each, of freight. They are 
manned by a people there called Malays, and by 
Africaners. The former, from their appearance, 
I judged to be descendants of Malay settlers. 



302 WHALING AND FISHING. 

They had the bright yellow color, the high cheek 
bones, and lithe figures of the native Malaccan. 
The Africaners were fine looking men, with long 
wavy hair, and sharp features. 

The boats are hauled to and from shore by 
means of large coir hawsers, stretched along over 
the bottom of the bay, from the landing to the 
anchorage. We were scarcely at anchor when a 
surf-boat was seen putting out toward us, over- 
hauling and carrying along a hawser which had 
before lain at the bottom, and which they guessed 
would be found, at its outer end, to be moored but 
a little distance from our vessel. They were mis- 
taken, however. But the moorings of these lines 
are buoyed ; and a few minutes after they got out 
to us sufficed to pick up a line which was suited to 
our place. This was immediately made fast to 
our bows, by the bight, to use a sailor-phrase, the 
end remaining fast to its moorings at the bottom. 
This completed, the captain jumped into the surf- 
boat, and was taken ashore. We now learned, 
for the first time, that as this was the South-easter 
season in Algoa Bay, no one but the captain was 
allowed to go ashore. This was a sad disappoint- 
ment to me, again, as I had set my heart upon an 
exploration of the place — and would not have 
hesitated to accompany some old Cape farmer 
into the backwoods of Africa. But the fates 
ordained otherwise. 

These Cape " Boors," as they are called, seem to 
be a queer set. With a good spy -glass we could 



A SOUTH EASTER. £03 

see their huge, clumsy wagons, dragged by oxen 
almost innumerable, approaching the town, over 
a high ridge at its back. They brought in wool, 
ostrich feathers, lion's skins, beef, butter, and 
many other articles, which form the export trade 
of the port. Long, slow-moving trains they were, 
looking to us like vast serpents crawling along. 

So we were not to go ashore. This vexed my 
ill satisfied shipmates, who would have been glad 
enough to desert here, had there been the slightest 
opportunity. Not that they had not been in worse 
vessels. Not that the voyage was unbearably 
long. Not that the labor during our stay in port 
was likely to be exhausting. But simply because 
they had by this time found out all about the ves- 
sel and her officers. They had exhausted the 
excitement of novelty on board, and their restless 
spirits pined for more. It is so always, at sea. Iwas 
possessed with this spirit, as well as my shipmates. 
And to me, as to them, it was a bane to true con- 
tentment. 

It was on the third day after our arrival in the 
roads, that a regular South Easter blew up. The 
air, at no time since our arrival too genial, became 
almost frosty. Heavy storm clouds blew in dense 
white masses to the North West. The sea began 
to roll in, in mountain surges, threatening to engulf 
the vessels which lay anchored in its course. The 
surf boomed solemnly from shore, and the wind 
shrieked through our rigging, until one could 
scarcely make himself heard on deck. 



304 WHALING AND FISHING. 

Our brig was furnished with new ground tackle 
and patent anchors. We were tolerably secure 
also, in the berth our captain — an old visitor here 
— had chosen. But as the little craft tugged at 
her anchors, head to the swell which tossed her 
about as though but a feather's weight, every few 
minutes a sea would board her over the bows and 
sweep spare cable, buckets, men, and every thing 
movable, aft. "We were obliged to batten down the 
hatches and to close the forecastle and companion 
hatches with the utmost care, to prevent some 
chance wave from swamping us. 

The breeze freshened toward evening, and the 
mate, examining his barometer, foretold a hard 
gale before midnight. 

" Mr. McDonald thinks the Earl of Harwood 
will drag before two hours," said the cook, as he 
gave us our tea. 

" Let her drag," answered Scotch Jack, " she 
wont fall foul of us. And that will be another 
Scotch vessel gone to the dogs. I wish they were 
all at the bottom, and their masters with them." 

Scotch Jack could not bear those of his country- 
men who chiefly command vessels from the Mau- 
ritius. He was from Glasgow. Our captain and 
mate, in common with most of their countrymen 
in this part of India, owned Aberdeen (they pro- 
nounced it A-bur-diri) or its immediate neighbor- 
hood, as their home. Between these two sections 
of country there has long been much jealousy. 
Sailors from the western coast of Scotland can 



DRAGGING. 305 

scarcely ever be gotten to do justice to those on 
the East Coast — whom they think sneaks and 
mean fellows generally. 

At eight o'clock when the anchor watch was set 
for the night, we dropped a third anchor under 
foot, and paid out some more cable on the others. 
The wind was now directly on shore, and the long 
line of white surf which stretched from beam to 
beam showed plainly the vessel's fate that dragged 
her anchor this night. 

"We had set the Earl of Harwood by the com- 
pass, and those on deck now kept an eager look 
out upon her to see if she changed her position at 
all, as that would be a sure indication that her 
anchors had broke ground. The fate of two other 
vessels, one of them partly owned by our captain, 
depended, in a measure, upon this vessel's. She 
was anchored directly to windward of them ; and 
if she got adrift, they would be either cut down 
and sunk, or to prevent such a catastrophe, would 
be forced to slip their cables and drift ashore. 

Meantime, the gale roared through the rigging 
with freshened impetus, and the surf boomed on 
the beach with a noise like many thunders. My 
watch on deck was from 10 to 12. As my watch- 
mate and I came on deck, the Earl of Harwood 
began to drag. At first she lost ground but 
slowly. Her people were paying out cable, in 
hopes to get their anchors fast once more. The 
officers of the brig and barque to leeward, were 
20 



306 WHALING AND FISHING. 

violently gesticulating to the Earl of Harwood's 
crew, as we could see through a night glass. They 
evidently desired these to cut away their vessel's 
masts, as the last hope of saving her and them- 
selves. But this they would not do. 

"I'd sooner try to beat the old craft out, at the 
risk of burying her bones in the sand, than to cut 
away those masts ; we would never get a set like 
them again," the Earl of Harwood's mate had said 
on the previous day, while talking to our mate. 

But beating out was an impossibility. Only a 
year before we were there, a mail steamer, drag- 
ging in a south-easter, had attempted to get clear 
by means of sails and steam ; but after a desperate 
struggle of some hours, had gone ashore. How, 
then, could one expect a vessel depending altoge- 
ther upon sails, to be cleared ? 

"That time she dragged at least a hundred 
fathom. Another slip like that will bring her foul 
of the Margaret," said the mate, who was closely 
watching every turn in affairs. "If he would 
slip now. hoist his jib, and run her ashore, he 
would do no damage to any one else." 

"There goes the jib!" shouted the cook, who 
had turned out to witness the exciting scene. 

"Yes, there it goes," said Scotch Jack, as the 
sail blew out of the bolt ropes, torn to shreds by 
the fierce gale. 

"That's a mishap, now, for the poor Margaret." 

The Harwood's crew had slipped their cable at 



A DOUBLE WRECK. 307 

the moment of hoisting the jib. The sail gone, 
they were now helpless, and drifted with light- 
ning speed down upon the Margaret. 

A few minutes decided her fate. Half a ship's 
length ahead would have cleared the Earl of Har- 
wood. But that half ship's length could not he 
got. In less time than it takes to read the account, 
the two vessels were hopelessly fouled. There 
was a sharp crash heard above the gale, and in the 
next moment the Margaret, jib boom and foremast 
hanging over the side, was drifting toward the 
surf, with the Harwood. The barque was un- 
touched. Fortunately for her, the Harwood's jib 
and the opposing forces of the collision gave the 
vessels another direction. 

In less than ten minutes after the Margaret got 
adrift, both vessels were bilged, ashore. It was a 
clear, moonlight night. We could see them, as 
they were tossed about like two chips, in the 
mountain surf. The Harwood came down, head 
on, the foresail being set for a moment, as she got 
into the surf, to give her a proper direction. The 
Margaret had lost all her forward spars, and was 
obliged to drift on helplessly, broadside to. 

One high toss on the surf, and the two vessels 
struck. Then for a few minutes the hulls were 
concealed by the surf which broke furiously over 
them. But each wave washed them higher up, 
and in twenty minutes after they struck, both 
hulls were lying mastless, on their bilge, almost 
beyond reach of a common swell. 



308 WHALING AND FISHING. 

" The Margaret's crew will get ashore without 
difficulty," said the mate, who had been examin- 
ing with his night-glass the situation of the vessels. 
" But the Harwood has fallen over with her decks 
toward the surf. It will not be such an easy 
matter to get ashore from her." 

In truth, we were told two days after, when the 
gale subsided and we once more held communica- 
tions with the shore, that some of the Harwood's 
crew had narrow escapes, the surf beating so vio- 
lently against the vessel's exposed deck as to 
make their position for a few minutes exceedingly 
critical. The Margaret's people saved all their 
clothes and other valuables, and had she had any 
cargo on board, would have been able to have 
saved that also. 

In Algoa Bay, as in every other seaport in the 
known world, there is found a Lloyd's agent — a 
person who acts on behalf of the Marine Insurance 
Companies. I have often wondered how it comes 
about that whenever there is a wreck, one of these 
agents appears almost simultaneously with it. 
Let misfortune overtake a vessel in the most 
unfrequented spot in the globe, and I am sure a 
Lloyd's agent would be on hand. Like the stormy 
petrel, he is seen principally during a gale and 
after its subsidence. In fine weather he relapses 
into insignificance, and be he independent mer- 
chant or commercial agent, has no marks to 
di.tinguish him from others of that class. We 
might have wandered over Algoa Bay for a week 



Lloyd's agent. 309 

and never had cause to suspect the existence of 
a Lloyd's agent in the place. But no sooner did 
it become evident that some vessels must be 
wrecked, than this worthy appeared on the beach, 
surrounded by a posse of natives, bearing tackles, 
rollers, boats, and divers other contrivances to 
facilitate the safe landing of the crews. And 
scarce was the Margaret abandoned by the crew, 
than this master spirit of the storm was seen 
climbing up her side, intent to seal up everything 
movable, and guard the vessel and all within her 
from marauding hands. While she was lying at 
anchor in the Bay, he had no business with her. 
No sooner was she wrecked, than she was so 
entirely under his charge, that her own captain, 
wanting some sail-twine which was left on board, 
was obliged on the following day to purchase it of 
the agent. 



310 WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Consequences of the wreck — A new crew — Scotch-English — Uses 
of a barometer — A South-easter Squall — Return to Port 
Louis — Ship for England — The Pauline Houghton — Talking 
to the Mate — Our crew — Paddy — An examination in Seaman- 
ship — The ship — Her rotten rigging — The captain's daily 
Siesta — The mate gets himself into trouble — How to gain 
the respect of a tyrant — Shooting at a mark — The Trades- 
Paddy's last torture — Short handed — Sufferings — Recuperat- 
ing — Seeking a berth — The last act of tyranny — Paying off — 
A "Recommendation." 

As before mentioned, our captain was part 
owner of the Margaret, which vessel was now 
wrecked. Among her crew were four apprentices, 
Scotch hoys, "belonging to Peterhead, where the 
Annie was built. These boys, being now without 
a vessel, but still having claims to wages and 
employment, Captain McDonald determined to 
take on board the Annie, discharging four seamen 
to make room for them. 

Accordingly, on the second morning after the 
gale, the skipper came on board. He called us 
aft, and asked who of us desired to leave the ves- 
sel here. Every one at once expressed this desire. 
Scotch Jack, in his dry, bantering way, which 
irritated the skipper exceedingly, said that lie 



SCOTCH JACK. 311 

dearly loved the vessel, and her officers, and would 
not leave on any account, but for the fact that he 
had a wife and family at Cape Town, who, he 
feared, needed his protection. 

" Tou impudent varlet, I've a mind to keep you, 
as punishment for your sauce," said the skipper. 

" Do so, if you please," answered Jack ; " I don't 
like to stay longer from my family, but you have 
such an agreeable way with you that I could 
easily find it in my heart to make the sacrifice." 

This allusion to the captain's " agreeable way " 
capped the climax. Foaming at the mouth, he 
advanced toward Jack, who stood, meekly smiling, 
before him. He dared not strike him. A single 
blow would have been the signal for a general 
melee, in which, although the crew would have 
doubtless suffered for it afterward, he knew he 
would fare very roughly. 

So the worthy man contented himself with 
applying to Jack all manner of opprobrious epi- 
thets, calling him a lazy scoundrel, a mutinous 
rascal, and declaring that he was not deserving of 
so good a craft as the Annie, and could not appre- 
ciate the generous treatment he had received. All 
this Jack bore with imperturbable gravity. 

But when the skipper, stung possibly by his 
coolness, ventured to call him " no sailor," Jack, 
fire flashing from his eyes, stepped up to him and 
said, "You wretched JSTorth-countryman — you 
talk of sailorship. There never was a sailor in all 
your miserable place. There is not in a million 



312 WHALING AND FISHING. 

of you enough soul to make one seaman. You 
are fit for nothing but to tyrannize over better men 
than yourself: you and your booby brother. You 
remember G-lencoe. I wish your whole infernal 
clan had been killed there, that there might have 
been none of the ugly brood left." 

This last remark was in allusion to the famed 
massacre of G-lencoe, where almost the entire clan 
of McDonald was destroyed. 

The skipper cowered under Jack's glance, and 
contented himself by ordering us all forward. 

"We now fully expected to have "leave to 
retire," as Jack called it. In the course of the 
forenoon, however, the cook whispered to us that 
only four were to be discharged. Who is the 
unfortunate, fated to stay? was a question asked 
with some misgivings by each. Even Jack was 
troubled by the fear that the captain would retain 
him, and on the passage home pay him up for his 
saucy language. 

"If he does, as sure as I'm a living man, he'll 
never leave Port Louis again with whole bones," 
vowed he. 

At twelve o'clock the mate announced that 
" Yankee Charley," the present writer, was to 
remain on board. The others were ordered to 
prepare for going on shore by the first boat in the 
afternoon. 

" I would rather it was you than me, my poor 
fellow," said Jack, with a pitying smile. 

I proceeded straightway to the captain, and 



A NEW CREW. 313 

requested permission to accompany the others. A 
gruff " E"o " was the answer ; followed after a mo- 
ment's consideration on his part, by a more civil 
refusal, in which he stated to me the reason for 
which he desired to discharge the others. At the 
same time, he declared himself satisfied with the 
conduct of all but " Scotch Jack," and ventured 
upon the opinion, that but for him we would all 
have enjoyed the outward passage much more 
than we did. 

It was not without some sinking of the heart 
that I saw my shipmates take a joyful leave of 
the Annie. They had no pay to take, and had 
but seven shillings (not quite two dollars), among 
the four. Nevertheless they were as jovial as 
though their pockets were lined with rupees. 

" G-ive my regards to the consignee and his 
family, in Port Louis, Captain McDonald," were 
Jack's last words, as the surf-boat shoved off. 

The returning boat brought on board four green- 
looking Scotch boys, ranging from fourteen to 
twenty years of age. They looked at me with 
evident suspicion, and sat apart in the forecastle 
at supper, devouring their tea and biscuit without 
any attempt at establishing a friendship. For 
this I cared but little, as their acquaintance was 
little desirable. But their language was a sore 
thing to ears like mine, unaccustomed to hear the 
King's English treated disrespectfully. For a 
while I listened, in the vain hope of understand- 
ing somewhat of the jargon which they called 



314 WHALING AND FISHING. 

English. Vain hope, truly. It was worse than 
the French upon which I had months ago ex- 
hausted all my powers of understanding. 

But the worst was yet to come. On the morn- 
ing following the advent of our new crew, the 
mate came out ten times more Scotch than ever ; 
and when, not understanding an order he gave, I 
asked him to explain himself in English, he 
gravely asked if that was not English, meaning 
the patois in which he had spoken. The majority 
rules, even on shipboard. "While our old crew 
was yet on board, the plain " Anglo-Saxon " car- 
ried the day triumphantly, and more than once 
Scotch Jack took occasion to rally the officers 
upon their unintelligible Scotch English, by ask- 
ing them if such a language was permitted be- 
neath the British Union-Jack. But now the 
other side was in the majority, and it shortly 
began to be whispered about among the boys, 
that I could not understand plain English. 

This was good enough to laugh at. But when 
some days after we left port, the captain in a fit 
of unusual candor owned that he did not under- 
stand more than half I said, the matter assumed 
to me a graver air, and I heartily advised him to 
procure a grammar and dictionary of the English 
language. 

Our return cargo for Port Louis consisted of 
salt, sheep, and butter. In one week after our 
change of crews we were loaded. We got under 
way with a fine but rather stiff North-wester — a 



GETTING UNDER WAY. 315 

wind that blows right out of the harbor. The 
top-gallant masts and top-gallant and royal yards 
had been sent aloft the day before. One anchor 
was on the bow. 

Before we broke ground on the other, the fore- 
topsail was set. On heaving " short stay a-peak '" 
the anchor broke ground, and before we could run 
it up to the bows, had caught a fair half of all the 
surf-boat lines in the bay. In vain we tugged at 
the windlass. In vain we lowered and backed the 
topsail. In vain we payed out chain. The lines 
were fast about the anchor flukes, and remained 
there. Finally, after wasting an hour in fruitless 
efforts to clear ourselves, the skipper ordered all 
sail to be set that she would carry ; this done, we 
bore gallantly seaward, with an anchor and fifteen 
fathoms of chain overboard. 

When we were two miles from land the vessel 
was hove to, while we hove up, catted, and fished 
the anchor. Three hours were consumed in clear- 
ing and coiling down the stiff coir lines and haw- 
sers with which the anchor was encumbered. 
Some of them were from thirty to fifty fathoms 
long. I dare say the surf-boatmen did not spare 
their maledictions at our carelessness. 

The passage to Port Louis was sufficiently une- 
ventful. I learned somewhat of Scotch clannish- 
ness, and a good deal of Scotch brogue. I learned, 
that to speer meant to look — that a dibble was a 
spoon— that in short, Scotch and English were 
two different languages. And I arrived, probably, 



316 WHALING AND PISHING. 

at a better understanding of Burns's delightful 
songs and poems, than I would else ever have 
attained. 

It was on this voyage that I saw illustrated to 
better advantage than ever before, the uses of a 
barometer. Our captain owned a most excellent 
one, and by long study had made himself a 
scientific observer of its mercurial motions. I 
have before stated, that to watch the compass was 
his greatest delight. 'Next in importance to this 
was the barometer. When on deck, particularly 
on this homeward passage, he vibrated regularly 
between the binnacle and the barometer. When 
at dinner, he would look up to see how she headed, 
and then rise to glance at the barometer. In the 
night, if his eyes opened to look at the compass 
overhead, his mouth at the same time opened to 
shout " how's the barometer, Jims? " 

I must own that much trouble was saved us by 
his close watch of this weather gauge. The Afri- 
can coast is squally. The squalls do not rise 
gradually and perceptibly, as in other latitudes, 
but burst suddenly upon a vessel, giving no pre- 
vious warning to the most watchful mariner. But 
by the aid of our faithful barometer the approach 
of one of these unwelcome visitors could be fore- 
told some hours. 

Thus, we would be going along with studding- 
sails set, under a press of canvas, and with a 
good and fair breeze; no sign in the heavens 
would indicate a change. While congratulating 



A SOUTH-EASTER SQUALL. 317 

ourselves, perhaps, on the steadiness of the wind, 
and the fine progress we were making, the skip- 
per would order the studdingsails taken in. 

" Is the poor man daft?" said Scotch Jack, the 
first time this maneuver was performed. The 
studdingsails in, the lighter sails would be clewed 
up and furled. The topsail halyards were then 
laid down, tacks and sheets were cleared, ready 
for running, and all was again expectation. Often 
an hour would elapse before the squall broke upon 
us. On these occasions there were not wanting 
weather-wise tars who thought our Scotch skipper 
" o'er careful." But the event always justified his 
prudence, and before we got to Algoa Bay, we, 
the forward hands, acknowledged that the captain 
and his weather glass were more skillful judges of 
the weather than the oldest tars. 

On the passage to Port Louis I, for the first 
time, met one of the South-easter squalls, pecu- 
liar to this African coast. We had got the wind 
from the South-south-east, and were going along 
merrily before it, with all sail set. The weather 
was balmy, the sky was filled with white clouds, 
but no symptoms were there of an approaching 
squall. Toward noon the air grew chilly. At 
two o'clock I, who had moved about decks all the 
morning in my shirt sleeves and barefooted, shiv- 
ered at the wheel, though wrapped in a stout pea- 
jacket. The breeze was all this time gradually 
freshening, and the huge, snowy -white clouds 
rolled up swiftly from the South-east, and covered 



318 WHALING AND FISHING. 

the heavens, leaving scarcely a spot of the bin© 
sky perceptible. 

At half past two the royals and top-gallant 
studdingsails were taken in. Shortly thereafter, 
a heavy white cloud appeared above the horizon. 
As it developed itself, a small black spot appeared 
in its center. This would not have been noticed 
by an inattentive observer. Yet this contained 
the squall. As the cloud approached, the black 
diffused itself over the white. 

" Stand by your top-gallant halyards," said the 
skipper. 

"Now a few drops of mixed hail and rain — the 
advance guards of the squall — fall upon deck. 
And now the wind changes about two points — 
that is, to due South-east. 

" Keep her off before it," says the captain. 

The sails flutter a little ; and then, with a ' 
heavy shower of hail, the ice-cold gust strikes us. 
One strong sweep of the wind, which lasts not a 
minute in all, and all is over. The hail turns to 
rain. This ceases. The sun shines out brightly. 
The clouds disappear. The wind comes back to 
South-south-east. The sky resumes its clear blue; 
and the air is again balmy as before. 

The blast was as though some huge giant had 
blown a breath against us. One almost deafening 
roar, and all was past. It was a singular phe- 
nomenon. 

We arrived at Port Louis in eighteen days from 
Algoa Bay. Going on shore, I took possession 



FRED. 319 

once more of the room which I had occupied pre- 
vious to my departure in the Annie. Here I found 
installed, on my return, a British sailor with 
whom I had once made a voyage from Canton to 
the Isle of France. We were very happy to meet. 
He told me ships were exceedingly scarce. It was 
now the hurricane season, when the harbor of 
Port Louis is not thought safe for shipping. At 
this time of the year therefore, business is espe- 
cially dull. 

"What do you say to shipping for England?" 
said Fred to me one day, shortly after my arrival. 

" We can never make sufficient here for a start j 
whereas if we go to London and thence to JSew 
York, we can save as much off a couple of voyages 
in one of your Yankee ships, as will give us a nice 
start out here." 

This idea pleased me. We talked the matter 
over a little more at length, and finally determined 
to ship as soon as possible for London. 

On the morning following the final settlement 
of our plan, we walked down upon the mole, to 
place ourselves in the way of ship captains who 
should come ashore in search of men. After 
walking about awhile, enjoying the cool shade of 
a huge banian tree which half covers the mole 
and jetty, we proceeded up town. On the way up, 
we were hailed by a short, stout man, who asked 
us if we did not want a ship. 

"Where for?" inquired Fred. 

" For London." 



320 WHALING AND FISHING. 

" What's her name?" 

" The Pauline Houghton." 

" That's one of Blythe's yellow abominations," 
said Fred, who prided himself on his plainness. 

" She belongs to the Messrs. Blythe, my man, 
and is a good ship," was the captain's answer; for 
the individual who had stopped us was her captain. 

"And what may your name be, Sir?" asked 
Fred, more respectfully. 

" Captain Joseph Smith." 

"Why," exclaimed my shipmate, with an oath 
which I shall not set down here, " You're the fel- 
low that so misused your crew on your outward 
passage, that they preferred thirty days in jail 
and the loss of their hard-earned wages, to going 
home with you. And now you ask good men to 
go with you?" 

" My crew were a set of skulks and worthless 
fellows. Good men need not fear ill treatment 
from me. The wages are two pounds ten, and a 
month's advance. Won't you go? " 

" We'll think about it," said Fred, as he took 
my arm, and walked off. 

" Now Charley," continued he, " I'm not afraid 
to go with that fellow, although doubtless he is an 
outrageous rascal. I know one of the crew that 
is now in jail. He told me that the mate used to 
beat some of the men over the head and shoulders 
with handspikes, when they did not steer to suit 
him. And they say, too, that ' infernal scoundrel ' 
is the best word which issues from him." 



FRED SPEAKS TO THE CAPTAIN. 321 

"But then," said I, "a man is foolish to permit 
another to either curse or abuse him." 

" That's just my opinion. And I have an idea 
that we can make a homeward passage with this 
fellow, without a hard word passing between us. 
I can do my duty, and I've seen you do yours, my 
boy — though you are a Yankee" — added he crab- 
bedly. " So let's go down and talk to captain 
Joseph Smith." 

We immediately walked down toward the Pau- 
line Houghton's consignee's house. There meeting 
our captain, Fred, with a degree of candor which 
must have been vastly annoying to that worthy, 
proceeded to tell him that we had heard from his 
last crew that he and his mate were a pair of great 
scoundrels, and that his old tub (meaning the Pau- 
line H.) was scarcely seaworthy; but that as he 
wanted hands, and we desired strongly to go to 
London, we had concluded to go with him. 

" This lad," continued Fred, pointing to me, 
" has sailed in the worst craft out of Port Louis, 
and acquitted himself respectably. As for me — 
if you or your mate can teach me any part of my 
duty, I'll give you leave to handspike me three 
times a day. But we have neither of us been used 
to cursing or blows. And I give you fair warn- 
ing that we shall return both with interest. Civil 
treatment will get a power of work out of us. 
But when a man treats me uncivilly, he makes 
nothing." 

This sounded to me a great deal like bravado. 
21 



322 WHALING AND FISHING. 

But I suppose it was necessary under the circum- 
stances. However unpleasantly Fred's harangue 
may have affected the captain, he restrained his 
wrath, and smilingly invited us into the store, to 
sign the articles. 

This done, we promised to be at the landing 
stairs by three o'clock that afternoon, with our 
effects. The rest of his new crew were already on 
board. The vessel was to sail on the following 
day. 

By half-past three, we were alongside the Pau- 
line Houghton. 

'•Where to, now, Charley?" hailed an old ship- 
mate from a country vessel's bows, as in company 
with our new captain we were being pulled on 
board. 

"To London." 

"What! in that dirt-colored hulk in the outer 
tier? Well, you have been and gone and done it, 
my poor fellow. Don't you stand any of that fel- 
low's nonsense. If you thrash him once, he'll be 
good as pie to you afterward," and my jolly 
friend tipped our savage-looking skipper a wink. 

Fred smiled grimly at the banter, while I judged 
it best to say nothing in answer. 

A volley of oaths from the mate, directed at some 
man who was trying to cross a top-gallant yard> 
saluted our ears as soon as we got within hearing 
of our new vessel. 

We looked inquiringly at the skipper, who said, 
"I'll stop that as soon as wc get alongside." 



THE MATE. 323 

We had just got our chests secured in the fore- 
castle and were looking about the forward deck a 
little, when the mate hailed us with, "Now, then, 
d — n your eyes! get aloft there, and help cross 
that topgallant yard. We'll have no loafers on 
board this ship." 

" Come aft with me, Charley," said Fred, quietly. 

We walked together up to the mate. 

"This young man and I shipped here to do sea- 
men's duty, Mr. Mate, whatever your name is," 
said Fred, coolly; "we don't want abuse. We are 
going in this vessel to London ; and I want to give 
you warning, that if you ever curse at either of us 
again, while we are in your ugly tub, you'll have 
us both in your hair. We can do our duty with- 
out that." 

The mate looked from one to the other of us, in 
speechless surprise, for a few moments; then 
uttered in a low tone an ejaculation to the effect 
that he "hoped to be" quite the reverse of saved, 
"if that was not cool;" then scrutinized our coun- 
tenances a little more closely, and finally spoke up 
in a quiet, gentlemanly manner, 

" Well, men, go aloft and cross that foretopgal- 
lant yard. Send those men down who are up 
there. I'll send you up the sail as soon as you are 
crossed." 

We had gained the victory. From that day to 
the end of a long passage of one hundred and 
thirty-five days, no matter how provoking was 
the wind, weather, or vessel, neither captain or 



324 WHALING AND FISHING. 

mate ever treated us in any but the most gentle- 
manly way. 

"That conies of speaking up like men with 
souls, my lad," said Fred, as we jumped aloft to 
do the mate's bidding. 

We sailed on the following morning. I have 
before stated that in Port Louis, vessels are moored 
with four anchors, two ahead and two astern. As 
it would be exceedingly inconvenient to weigh 
these anchors by the ship's capstan or windlass, 
mooring boats are supplied by the harbor master. 
Each of these boats has a diver among the crew. 
This man takes a stout rope in his mouth, and 
dives to the bottom. Here finding an anchor, he 
puts the rope through its ring, and brings up the 
end with him. By this the anchor is hove to the 
water's edge, when it is taken alongside of the 
vessel, and stowed away. 

These divers have great skill in their vocation. 
A few days before we sailed, the captain of a ves- 
sel had lost overboard a gold watch and chain. 
His vessel lay in twenty fathoms water (one hun- 
dred and twenty feet). A diver, hearing of the 
mishap, offered his services to recover the lost 
property. The place whence it dropped was 
pointed out to him, as nearly as possible. He dove 
to the bottom, and almost immediately brought up 
the watch and chain. Ten rupees (five dollars) 
was all he asked for this service. 

Well, we sailed. Our crew consisted of eight 
men. The vessel should have carried ten; but 



OUR CREW. 325 

the ill repute in which she stood among seamen 
in Port Louis, made it impossible to procure 
more. 

Had these eight been able seamen, we would 
have gotten along tolerably well. But two of 
them were runaway soldiers; one was an Irish 
man-of-war's man, who had served three years in 
the receiving-ship at Portsmouth, in England, in 
the capacity of ship's tailor, and had afterward 
somehow strayed out to the Isle of France ; and 
another was a deserter from some outward-bound 
American whaleship. None of these four could 
steer our heavily-laden vessel, so that the entire 
labor of steering, except in very fine weather, fell 
upon the other four of us — no slight addition to 
duties already sufficiently onerous. 

Our runaway soldiers were the best of the 
greenies. Eejoicing in their new liberty, they 
were ready and willing to do all they could, and 
quickly learned all the minor and less important 
duties of seamen. 

The whaleman was sick nearly the entire pas- 
sage. He was paying a fearful penalty for past 
excesses. Aside from his illness, he was a spirit- 
less creature, who permitted the officers to treat 
him as they chose — which was in a most rascally 
way, to be sure. 

But our Paddy was a genius. He had been told 
that "there is no such word as can't, at sea." 
Accordingly, he took especial care never to utter 
this forbidden monosyllable. 



326 WHALING AND FISHING. 

" Paddy, can you steer?" asked the mate of him, 
on the day we sailed. 

"Yes, sir," was Paddy's ready reply. 

No more questions were asked. But when the 
decks were cleared up, and the watches chosen, 
"Send the gentleman from Ireland to the wheel!" 
sung out the captain. 

Accordingly, he took the wheel, and in less than 
two minutes had the vessel all in the wind, sails 
shivering, sheets slatting, and the spanker boom 
nearly knocking him overboard. 

" I thought you could steer ! " shrieked the skip- 
per, in a rage, at the same time applying a rope's 
end freely to Paddy's shoulders. 

"I thought so, too," submissively answered the 
Irishman. 

"Do you know the compass, at all?" he was 
asked, after we had once more got the ship upon 
her course. 

"Yes, sir." 

" What's this point, then?" 

" That's North." 

" Eight. Now what is this next to it?" 

To this there was no answer. Paddy had made 
up his mind not to confess ignorance of anything. 
And when he knew nothing, he wisely held his 
tongue. 

After giving him a hearty cursing, the captain 
sent him forward. Here he received from the 
sailors another series of curses, for shipping under 
false pretences. He bore it all in dogged silence. 



PADDY. 327 

That night, the second mate, in whose watch he 
was, told him to slack up the foretopgallant clew- 
line, which happened to be too tight. He went 
forward, and let go the foretopsail halyards, car- 
rying away by this stupid trick, both foretopgal- 
lant sheets. We of the watch below were awak- 
ened by his cries to the second mate for mercy. 
We lost two hours' sleep by his blunder, and did 
not therefore feel sorry that he got a beating, 
severe as it was. He bore the marks of it upon 
him for nearly a month. 

We were a week from land ere we arrived at a 
full understanding of all the length, breadth and 
depth of his ignorance. He actually knew no 
more about a ship, than a person who had never 
seen one. When sent aloft to furl the royal, he 
whispered to one standing near the main rigging, 
" Is it the highest one?" 

On receiving an affirmative answer, (accompa- 
nied, I must say, with a curse,) he hurried aloft. 
But now instead of rolling up the sail and passing 
the gasket lines about it, he sat on the yard and 
looked sapiently down upon deck. 

Such a look of angry astonishment as filled the 
mate's face upon this occasion, I never saw equaled. 

"Why don't you furl the sail, you booby?" 
he shouted. 

"Aye, aye, sir!" answered Paddy, readily 
enough, but never stirring. 

" Eoll it up, you infernal stupid ! and come down 
here quick; I want to thrash you! " shouted the 



328 WHALING AND FISHING. 

skipper, dancing about the quarter deck with 
rage. 

" Oh ! " said Paddy, as though the whole idea 
had suddenly burst upon him. And then he began 
to roll up the royal. But as he was in evident 
ignorance of the existence of gaskets, when he got 
the middle rolled snugly he found sufficient to do 
to hold that, without attempting more. He cast 
another despairing look upon deck. 

One of us was now dispatched aloft to help and 
show him how to take in a sail. But Paddy, look 
on as carefully as he would, could never be taught 
to perform this operation. 

He did not know a single rope, and indeed, all 
our efforts to teach him to the contrary notwith- 
standing, was no wiser in this regard when he left 
the barque in London, than when he came on 
board, in Port Louis. Seeing the poor, foolish 
fellow so much abused, I took pity on him, and in 
the moonlight night watches used to go around 
the ship with him, to tell him the names and uses 
of the various ropes. 

Thus, I would say, " Now, Paddy, this is the 
forebrace — this is the foretopsail brace — this the 
foretopgaliant brace — and this the foreroyal 
brace ;" making him touch each one in succession, 
and repeat its name over after me. 

" This is the maintopsail clewline, and this the 
buntline — these two the maintopgallant clewline 
and buntline. Now," touching the forebrace, 
" what rope is this ? " 



PADDY. 329 

"Be Jabers, Misther Charley," lie would reply, 
after an awkward pause, " is it a clewline ? " 

Night after night, I worried myself and him, 
to teach him at least a few of the most important 
ropes. But all to no use. To the last, he used to 
go to the maintopsail clewline when the forebrace 
was to be pulled upon. And on the very last day 
of our voyage, as we were being towed up the 
Thames, Paddy, told to slack up the spanker vang, 
let run the peak halyards, nearly killing himself 
by the operation. But he never uttered the word 
can't. This had been drilled into him. 

Such extreme ignorance was almost incredible 
to seamen. We took upon us to cross question 
him as to his outward voyage — from London to 
Port Louis. 

" How did you get along there, Paddy ? Did 
not they beat you occasionally ? " 

But Paddy preserved a judicious silence upon 
this part of his history. 

Had not the officers beaten him so much, he 
Would have fared hardly in the forecastle. But 
the daily — sometimes almost hourly — ropes-end- 
ings he received at the captain's hands forced us 
to take pity upon him. 

Some others of our crew were not much better 
treated than Paddy. In fact our officers had a 
strong inclination to ill use any one that would 
stand abuse, and it was only by a continual show 
of independence, and a readiness to resist all 



330 WHALING AND FISHING, 

attempts at special tyranny, that four of lis — in- 
cluding Fred and myself — were able to retain a 
peaceful and comparatively comfortable position 
on board. 

Although the mate had, after Fred's " personal 
explanation " on our arrival on board, shown no 
farther inclination to use his billingsgate upon us, 
he had clearly borne us in mind. Fred had boast- 
ed of his sailorship — and unluckily, of mine too. 
During the first ten days out from port the mate 
made us earn the reputation Fred had given to 
ourselves. From one piece of rigging work to 
another, we were jointly and separately sent over 
the entire ship. To-day a brace to splice — a very 
neat piece of work on board an Indiaman, as it 
requires that two ropes-ends be joined together 
in such manner as that the points of junction shall 
be scarcely discernible. To-morrow a hawser to 
crown, and the next day some other more compli- 
cated rigging to be fitted. 

I must do the mate the justice to own, that he 
was himself an excellent seaman. He knew much 
more about a vessel than officers generally — and 
was not at all backward in making known his 
knowledge. 

" If he catches us tripping, Fred," said I, " we'll 
be in a bad box." 

" If he catches us tripping, my lad, he'll have 
to know more about a ship than I could ever find 
out about one." 



ON TRIAL. 331 

We passed the examination, and our not very 
good friend, the mate, was in consequence very 
kind to us ever after. 

" And now," said he, one Monday morning, 
" bring aft your palms and needles, and I'll set 
you to work on some sails." 

All day he sat by us, watching us as we plied our 
needles on the soft canvas, and occasionally hand- 
ing a more than usually difficult piece of work to 
one or other of us. 

Fred smiled confidently ; whereas I was annoyed, 
not knowing what moment some by me before 
unheard of "job" might be placed in my hands, 
by failing in which I should lose all the credit 
gained by ten days hard sailoring. 

So it is in British ships. Let a man, be he never 
so ready and expert, but fail in one minute par- 
ticular of seamanship, and he is counted " worse 
than a dog." 

Toward evening the mate handed me a piece of 
bolt rope to splice in, where a part on the sail was 
defective. He stood by me while I performed the 
task. 

" That's not the way to do that," said he sternly, 
after watching me for a while. 

Fred looked up with some alarm. But it hap- 
pened that in this I was confident of being right. 

" That is the way it is done in American 
ships, sir." 

" £To matter ; I want it done in ship shape. 
None of your Yankee botch -work for me." 



332 WHALING AND PISHING. 

" The Yankees don't as a general thing deal in 
botch-work," replied I. "I'll make the splice, and 
if you can draw it, or if it is clumsy, or apt to fall 
apart, I'll give up." 

He waited patiently till I was done ; then took 
my "job " and tried to pull it to pieces. Failing 
in this, as I knew he would, he declared himself — 
somewhat grudgingly — to be content; and hence- 
forth, with the exception of an occasional few 
hours work aloft, Fred and I were employed on 
the quarter-deck sewing on sails ; a much more 
pleasant task than swinging about on masts or 
yards, exposed to the broiling sun. 

The barque was old. Her rigging was in a 
wretched condition ; and after every gale all hands 
were busied for two or three days in repairing 
damages. Three times, in the course of our pas- 
sage, a topsail came thundering down on the cap, 
with men upon it. Twice Fred and I were on the 
falling yard, having been sent aloft to make some 
repairs ; and each time we had what landsmen 
would call a narrow escape. There was not on 
board sufficient rigging to reeve new halyards, and 
so the old had to be spliced — only to part again. 

Once, when reefing, in a gale, the lift, a rope 
which maintains the yard in its horizontal posi- 
tion, and on which the man at the earing depends 
for support, gave way. I happened to be at the 
earing. Had it not been for Fred's quick 
grasp of my hair, I should have dropped into the 
water. 



THE CAPTAIN'S SIESTA. 333 

So entirely rotten was everything aloft, that no 
one felt it safe to perform the usual services to the 
sails. It was at the imminent risk of life that 
any one pnt his foot into the rigging. Neverthe- 
less, although each felt this, it was never alluded 
to in the forecastle. It would have been unsailor- 
like to own to the possession of such a thought. 
And there was, among those of the crew who 
claimed to be seamen, as much readiness to go 
aloft, upon however irksome or really dangerous 
a duty, as though the rigging had been bran new 
from the rope-walk. 

We were but a very short time on board before 
we became aware that our officers drank. The 
captain, more especially, took his bowl of grog 
regularly, after dinner, and from it relapsed into 
a stupid sleep, which he dignified with the name 
of siesta. Awaking from this, he would come upon 
deck and catechise poor Paddy on various points 
in seamanship ; each failure in rendering a cor- 
rect answer being attended by a blow from the 
rope next at hand. 

On Sunday, if the day was fine — and most Sun- 
days at sea are pleasant days — the mate also took 
a siesta. After these occasions he would come 
upon deck, looking thunder at the crew. "Wo to 
Paddy if he came in his way then. There were 
occasions of this kind, when he could hardly force 
himself to treat Fred or myself civilly. But there 
was something of warning in old Fred's eye, 
which probably told him that to attack either of 



334 WHALING AND PISHING. 

us, with Billingsgate or blows, would only get him 
into trouble. So we escaped. 

Less fortunate were the rest. One Sabbath 
afternoon, while standing at the wheel, I heard a 
scuffle forward, and stepping to the side beheld 
the mate chasing a poor runaway soldier, one of 
our crew, with a handspike. Just then an athletic 
fellow, a seaman, who had been rather remiss in 
asserting his independence, came out of the fore- 
castle. The mate immediately attacked him, 
ordering him, with threats, to go below. This 
roused G-eorge. He stepped to the windlass and 
sat down, saying, " I'm tired of staying below, and 
find it pleasanter on deck, just now." 

"You hound," screamed the mate, white with 
drunken rage, "take that, and go below," hitting 
him a blow on the arm with a handspike. 

George seized the handspike, and tossed it over 
the lee bow, saying, as he grasped the mate by the 
shoulders, and turned his face aft, " Now go into 
your drunken cabin, blast you, or I'll put you 
where the handspike is." 

A little struggle ensued, for the mate, though a 
bully, was not devoid of courage. But George 
held him as in a vice, and the mate writhed help- 
lessly in his grasp till he promised to go peace- 
ably aft. 

From this time George was also a favorite with 
the mate. In fact it seemed that to abuse him, or 
resist him, was the surest way to gain his respect 
and favor. , 



A LITTLE PISTOL PRACTICE. 335 

One quiet Sabbath afternoon, while just to the 
North of Ascension, the captain, waking up from 
his usual siesta, appeared on deck with two pistols. 
1 was at the wheel. It was a dead calm, and tho 
ship had scarcely a motion of any kind, so quiet 
was the sea, 

" 1 need a little pistol practice," said the cap- 
tain, as he loaded his weapons — two large bell- 
mouthed instruments, holding an ounce ball each. 
After vainly looking along the smooth surface of 
the water, for some object at which to aim, he 
finally stepped to my side, standing about three 
feet from me, and aimed straight above his head. 

"We'll see how nearly perpendicular I can fire. 
That will be a good way to practice." 

His hand trembled as he fired, and presently we 
heard the ball drop into the water along side. 

"That was a bad shot ; I must do better than 
that." 

The second ball dropped astern. The third 
went through the spanker, and so into the water 
astern again. A grin of satisfaction spread over 
his countenance, when he saw that he was improv- 
ing. In the course of half an hour's firing the balls 
dropped in the water in all directions, possibly 
much surprising the fish with whom they came in 
contact in their course bottomward. 

Finally, taking a particularly good aim, he fired, 
and the ball returned whizzing to the deck, mak- 
ing a deep indentation just midway between the 
captain and myself. 



336 WHALING AND FISHING 

" I think we won't try that any more. Greater 
perfection is not desirable," said he, as he gath- 
ered up his ammunition and retired to the cabin. 

I will confess to being exceedingly rejoiced at 
his determination. It was by no means pleasant 
to stand still and be in this manner indirectly 
shot at. 

Hard work, poor provisions (and a very small 
allowance at that), and two quarts of water per 
day to drink and cook with, with officers that 
were brutes, and a vessel in the last stage of decay 
— all these things make a sailor's life the reverse 
of pleasant. And so we did not even enjoy as one 
ought the glorious region of the South-east Trades: 
those purer skies and brighter stars, bluer waves 
and softer breezes, which he who has once experi- 
enced will certainly never forget, nor ever think 
on without longing for their return. 

On these followed the tedious and exhausting 
calms of the equator. Then, after weeks of idle 
drifting about at the mercy of every chance cur- 
rent and catspaw, came the re-invigorating North- 
east Trades. And finally, the lowering heavens 
and gloomy sea of the English Channel. By this 
time we had only three men fit for duty. Even 
Paddy had at length succumbed to ill treatment, 
and now lay despairing in his berth, little caring 
for the diurnal threats of the captain, that he 
would hoist him on deck with a tackle. 

The last actual torture which this poor fellow 
Buffered, frightened him into a sickness. Having 



THE LAST TORTURE. 337 

one day, during the captain's usual catechising, 
proved unusually stupid, that worthy, intent upon 
a novel excitement, determined to hang his victim 
over the side on a level with the water's edge, 
and there make him scrub the long grass off the 
water-line. A stout rope was provided, and 
Paddy, who was a non-resistant, was made fast 
and helplessly lowered till he was up to the mid- 
dle immersed in water. 

" JS"ow scrub, you scoundrel," said his tormentor, 
as in savage glee he looked down at him. 

Paddy's entreaties for mercy were uninter- 
rupted, save by an occasional sputtering cry, fol- 
lowing upon his complete immersion. For as the 
vessel was under strong headway, she on^fe" ih a 
while careened over sufficiently to entirely sub- 
merge the poor half-witted Irishman. 

There was no actual danger — the captain and 
mate having taken care to so secure him as to 
make it impossible that he should be lost over- 
board. But with Paddy'3 nervous condition, and 
constitutional antipathy to water in any shape 
except as "tay," he was in mortal fear. 

After two hours of suspense, he was once more 
safely landed on deck. He took immediately to 
his berth, and did not recover from the shock of 
that morning till two or three days before we 
entered the "West India dock. 

Channel navigation, hard at best, is a torture 
where it becomes necessary that three wretched 
men shall perform the duties for which an entire 
22 



338 WHALING AND FISHING. 

crew is not too powerful. Wearied, sore, chafed 
in every limb, till the blood flowed from our feet 
as we ran aloft, and from our hands as we tugged 
at sails or painfully dragged heavy chain-cables 
about the deck, we at length arrived in the Downs. 

Here the pilot declared it necessary to procure 
a reinforcement of men from shore. And as the 
British Pilot makes his orders obeyed by captain 
as well as men, our labors were lightened by half 
a dozen hands, who were engaged to assist in 
taking the vessel into her dock. Yet another day 
of hard labor, and with somewhat joyful hearts 
we were gliding up the crooked Thames, behind a 
towboat. The following morning we hauled the 
vessel into her dock and left her. This was on 
the one hundredth and thirty-sixth day since we 
sailed from Port Louis. 

Going up to the " Sailor's Home," I deposited 
my luggage, had a refreshing bath, trimmed my 
numerous sores, and at eleven o'clock retired to 
my bed, preferring sleep to the dinner which was 
ready an hour afterward. 

My rest, undisturbed by many dreams, was not 
broken till nine o'clock the following morning. 
These twenty -two hours of sleep restored in some 
degree my usual elasticity, and after another im- 
mersion in cold water, and a hearty breakfast, I 
was almost myself again. 

I had been in London before, and well knew 
that no time was to be lost in securing a vessel. 
There is nearly always, in that port a surplus of 



SEEKING A BERTH. 339 

seamen; and many a poor fellow has struggled 
weeks for employment, nearly starving the while, 
before obtaining even a poor chance. I was deter- 
mined to return to the United States, and leave 
British vessels henceforth to British tars. I there- 
fore immediately proceeded to the St. Katherine's 
dock, where most American vessels are found, to 
inquire for a chance. 

After asking for a berth in quite a number of 
ships and barques, I at last happened on a barque, 
some of whose hands had left her. She was not 
to sail for several weeks, so the mate said. Never- 
theless, I resolved if possible to engage a place on 
her, rather waiting some time than losing the 
chance altogether. I accordingly sought out the 
captain . To my respectful request for employment, 
he gave a gruff reply, that he was daily, almost 
hourly, importuned by a parcel of lime-juicers. 

" But I am an American," said I, thinking that 
with common perspicacity he might have seen this. 

"Yes, they all claim to be Americans. And 
When you once get them to sea, you can't hear 
yourself speak for their growling." 

"Bat can you not promise me a chance?" I 
asked. 

" Do you want to wait three weeks ? ' 

" If I have your promise to ship me, I will do 
so willingly." 

" Well, you may wait, I guess." 

" Can't you give me some kind of employment 
on board meantime ?" 



340 WHALING AND FISHING. 

" No. I want no more idlers than I've got 
now." 

With this our interview closed. I told the mate, 
who seemed a more civil man than the captain, 
that the latter had promised to ship me. 

" Come down every two or three days and show 
yourself to him, that he may not forget you," said 
he, kindly, in answer. 

Meantime my last captain was making use of 
the last vestige of power in his hands, to make 
his crew uncomfortable. The British sailor is 
so important an individual to the prosperity of 
the Empire, and the British captain is so inva- 
riably a tyrant, that it has been found necessary 
to hedge seamen about with numerous laws, by 
which it is supposed they are protected from the 
evil inclinations of their superiors. These in turn, 
having a line drawn over which they may not 
step, take care in general to go quite up to it. 

Thus it is provided, for the protection of sea- 
men, that they shall be paid off within ten days 
of the time when the vessel has been made fast in 
her dock. Accordingly, our captain told us to 
come to the owner's office on the afternoon of the 
ninth day, when our money would be ready for us. 

It is usual, with the regular discharge, to give 
seamen in British vessels a " recommendation " to 
the tender mercies of any others who may pro- 
pose to employ them. An American shipmaster or 
owner thinks a man's face and carriage sufficient 
to judge of his merits. A Briton asks first for the 



A RECOMMENDATION. 341 

recommendation, and if this is not forthcoming, 
at once refuses, unless pressed for hands, to engage 
the applicant. 

We had been told that our captain would refuse 
any one a recommendation. For my part I cared 
little for it, as I was not to sail under the flag any 
more. My shipmates, however, felt somewhat 
anxious on the subject. 

At the appointed time we met at the owner's 
office. The captain was there. As each one's 
name was called, he stepped forward to receive 
his wages and sign his account. Then the captain 
handed him his discharge — and recommendation, 
if any was forthcoming. Fred, G-eorge and I, were 
the only ones of the crew who were favored with 
the latter document. I will here give a copy of 
mine, as it may satisfy the curiosity of some reader. 

"Cjjis is to Cjertifg, That , has 

served on board the Pauline Houghton, under 
my command, as able seaman, from Mauritius to 
London, and has conducted himself to my satis- 
faction; and can recommend him to any person 
that may require his services. 

" Joseph E. Smith, Master." 

With this precious indorsement in my hand, 
and seven pounds sterling (thirty -five dollars) the 
proceeds of my voyage, in my pocket, I left cap- 
tain Smith, thinking, " Take him for all in all, 
[I hope] I ne'er shall see his like again." 



342 WHALING AND FISHING 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

I wait for the Barque — Disappointed — " Working " a Passage — 
New York after two years absence — Coasting — Cape Men — 
Smyra, the Cook — Our Crew go Home — Ship Keeping — Sol- 
itude leads to Reflection — A Coaster's Life — A "Stranger" — 
The Cape— The Mary Hawes— A " Fish Crew "—Fishing " at 
Half Line " — We Sail — Preparing for Business — The Vessel — 
Her Captain. 

At the mate's suggestion, I came down to the 
barque every second or third day, and placed 
myself in the captain's way, sometimes speaking to 
him, at others, satisfied if he saw me. He occa- 
sionally expressed his opinion that I ought not to 
wait so long; yet never refused to ratify his prom- 
ise to ship me. Meantime, although entertaining 
no doubt as to his good faith, I kept a watch for 
other chances, determining that if I could get 
a berth in any vessel sailing earlier, I would 
accept it. 

JSTo such chance, however turned up. Every 
American ship that sailed was full manned, and 
in many there were extra hands, who were work- 
ing their passage. So I was compelled to await 
the expiration of three long weeks ; during which 
time the sum of money I had been paid off with 



DISAPPOINTED. 343 

from the Pauline Houghton, was very considerably 
diminished. 

It was yet early in the year, and I knew that a 
passage across the Atlantic would not be unattend- 
ed with cold weather. My first investment was 
therefore in some warm clothing. This provided, 
I felt more like trusting in Providence for the 
balance. 

A day came at length, whea the barque was to 
ship hands. I presented myself on her quarter 
deck, early in the morning ; where I was met by 
the captain, who told me gruffly that he found he 
should not need my services, as some other men 
had been shipped for him, loy a friend. I looked 
up in his face in mute astonishment. It was too 
bad. I had depended upon his word so entirely, 
that the possibility of his failing to keep it had 
never entered my mind. Before I could make 
any reply to his announcement, he left the vessel. 

Some of the crew, who from my frequent appear- 
ance on board had gotten to know me, shortly 
approached to question me as to whether I was 
shipped. On learning what the captain had said, 
they at once explained the secret of this movement. 
Some dealers in seamen's ready-made clothing, 
who had men on their hands, owing them money, 
had persuaded the worthy captain to engage their 
men, they — the slop-dealers — retaining, of course, 
the advance pay they got. While the crew were 
talking to me, the mate came up. 

"Are you shipped, my lad?" he asked. 



344 WHALING AND FISHING. 

"No, sir; the captain says all his hands are 
already engaged, elsewhere." 

He appeared surprised. After a moment's 
silence, he asked, "Do you need any advance?" 

" No, sir, I don't owe any one a cent." 

" Would you work your passage, if the captain 
consents to take you?" 

Now, to keep a man three weeks waiting for a 
place, and then ask him coolly to take the place 
and perform its duties, but without remuneration, 
I thought, looked a- good deal like an imposition 
on good nature. Nevertheless, as my case was 
tolerably urgent, I expressed my willingness even 
to work my passage. Hereupon the mate sought 
out the captain, and after conferring with him for 
a few minutes, returned to tell me that I might 
bring my luggage on board. 

We sailed on the following day. To the surprise 
of all the crew, one of the other new hands claimed 
also to be working his passage. He had been 
entrapped into this in the same way by which I 
had been victimized. Here should now have been 
two extra hands. But there was just the regular 
number of us ; so that by this operation, the cap- 
tain was enabled to pocket the wages of two men 
during the passage home. 

This passage lasted forty days. "We had some 
rough weather ; but with a comfortable ship and 
tolerably kind officers, sailors care little for the 
weather. So we passed the time very contentedly ; 
I daily wishing for a succession of fair winds, to 



A LOOK AT THE PAST. 345 

shorten a passage for which I was to receive no 
pay. 

It was on a bright July morning that we entered 
New York Bay. By four o'clock that afternoon, 
the barque was moored at one of the East Eiver 
wharves; and I stepped ashore, after an absence of 
over two years from the United States, with three 
suits of seaman's clothing in my chest, and an 
English sixpence in my pocket, the result of those 
two years of hard work, exposure and deprivation. 

I don't know but a glimpse of common sense 
penetrated for a moment the thick mist of 
romance with which I had always sought to sur- 
round the life I had chosen, as I stood upon the 
wharf, and remembered with what a light heart I 
had two years before sailed from that same pier to 
New Bedford; how I had willfully tempted for- 
tune, by throwing myself recklessly into a life of 
which I knew nothing ; how I had labored twelve 
months in all the filth, moral and physical, of a 
whaleship, and left her at last, with no returns to 
show for my work ; how I had wasted more time 
in the Isle of France; and how now, looking back, 
I could see two years of my life to all appearance 
thrown away. 

" What would the folks at home think of me, 
could they see me now?" I asked myself. 

" Don't you want your luggage taken up to a 
boarding-house?" asked an express man. 

" Yes, take me up to Cherry street, No. — ." 

Arrived at the place designated, I stated my 



346 WHALING AND PISHING. 

circumstances to the worthy man who there kept a 
boarding place for seamen. He knew me, and 
received me kindly, " money or no money," as he 
expressed it. I told him that I wished to go off 
as soon as possible. 

" Better stay a week or two to recruit yourself. 
Any money you want I will let you have freely. 
You can repay it at your convenience." 

I felt deeply grateful to him for the offer. Prob- 
ably not another sailor boarding-house keeper in 
New York, would have said as much to me. But 
I was determined to lose no time in idleness, and 
expressed a strong desire to go off on the following 
day. 

That evening the captain of a schooner trading 
between New York and Boston, came up to get a 
hand. I offered myself, was accepted, and engaged 
to render myself on board on the following morn- 
ing, at six o'clock. So, having returned at four 
o'clock, p. m., from a two years' absence from the 
States, six o'clock the following morning found me 
working at the windlass — once more an " outward 
bounder." 

Schooner sailing was somewhat strange to me. 
But the people, Cape Cod men all, were kind to 
me and bore with what must have seemed to them 
the rather gruff and odd ways of an old salt. Our 
crew consisted of five : captain, mate, two hands, 
and the cook. The latter was a little boy of ten 
years, the captain's son. All hands lived in the 
cabin, and the officers, although a little reserved 



SMTEA. 347 

in their conversation, as is the manner of Cape 
men, were kind-hearted, hard-working people. 

The j were plainly unused to the company of 
such an outlandish fellow as I had by this time 
grown to be. Every article of my clothing seemed 
a curiosity to them. My old sea chest was an object 
of mysterious interest to the little cook, who 
evidently connected it in his mind with number- 
less romantic adventures. Th e shrewd little fellow 
lost no time in finding out my weak side, and hav- 
ing once, as he judged, established himself in my 
good graces, straightway importuned me for a 
yarn ; and I soon found that Smyra — that was his 
singular name — faithfully repeated my tough 
yarns to his father, who used to smile good-na- 
turedly at his childish enthusiasm, and at my, to 
him, queer ways. 

For myself, the company of the child was grate- 
ful to my feelings. I liked his unsophisticated 
ways and ingenuous talk. And so I tried, and 
successfully, to win his regards. These little Cape 
boys start early into active life. Smyra had been 
cook since his eighth year, and now at ten, with 
all of the child about him yet, was as self-reliant 
and shrewd, in matters appertaining to his pecu- 
liar life, as many a young man at twenty-one. 

Our crew had their homes in a little village on 
the Cape. It was the captain's custom to lay by 
here for a day or two, on each trip. Accordingly, 
when we were through the Yineyard Sound, our 
course was shaped toward Harwich, and by noon 



348 WHALING AND FISHING. 

of the second day after we left New York, the 
little craft was safely moored at "Deep Hole" — 
the name of the particular anchorage chosen for 
her. We found here a number of schooners at 
anchor. 

"What are those vessels, Smyra?" asked I, as 
we two were stowing the jib. 

" Some coasters, and some fishermen." 

With a quickness peculiar, I believe, to fisher- 
men and coasters, the boy now began telling over 
the names of the various vessels. Many lay a 
mile off; but he knew them all. This was a 
coaster, that a fisherman ; this a Harwood vessel, 
that one from Barnstable. 

" And yonder in the offing is a Down-Easter." 

" How do you know that ? Have you seen her 
before?" 

" No ; but I know by her rig. ISTo Cape man 
would have such a clumsy masthead to his vessel." 

When the sails were furled, and all was made 
snug, our crew departed shoreward in the boat, 
leaving me alone on board, as " ship-keeper." 

" There's plenty of eggs, and everything else 
you want, in the cabin, Charley ; you must cook 
lots for yourself," said Smyra, as he gaily jumped 
into the stern sheets. 

" And there are some good books in the cabin, 
too, Charles," said .the skipper, "you can take 
whatever you please." 

So they went ashore to their pleasant homes, 
while I, poor fellow, remained on board in 



SHIP-KEEPING. 349 

solitude. It was a solitude I very much enjoyed. 
A Sabbath stillness reigned over the little bay in 
which we were anchored. Most of the vessels at 
anchor were entirely deserted j a few had a soli- 
tary ship-keeper, like myself a stranger to the 
Cape. During the two days which our crews 
spent on shore I had ample time to take a cool 
review of the last few years of my life, and 
endeavor to plan out a future. 

I was now in my twenty -first year. I had, 
unconsciously almost, grown to man's estate. And 
I was now fully awakening to the fact, that in the 
life I was leading there was nought to elevate, 
everything to debase a man — that day by day, I 
was losing ground, and lessening my chances of 
ever returning to a better life. 

To a boy every change is welcome. He has 
the power to fit himself into any kind of life. The 
man is different ; and I was alarmed when I found 
how much, in the last two years, I had grown 
into the peculiar ways of acting, and thinking 
even, of the genuine, irredeemable o!d sailor. 

"A change must be made," thought I. "But 
how? Can I return home after years of unre- 
quited hardships, and meet the pitying smiles of 
former friends, who have by more proper conduct 
distanced me in the race of life ? ~No. This can 
never be. Will strangers give me employment on 
shore? Me, who bear in every line and motion 
the evidence of being a sailor." It appeared very 
unlikely. 



350 WHALING AND FISHING. 

Nevertheless, I determined to try, as soon as I 
should have earned myself a little money, to sup- 
port me in the attempt. How many months 
would elapse ere this should be accomplished, and 
whether for that long time my resolution would 
hold out, I could not tell. But this I determined 
henceforth to look forward to, as the aim of my 
life. 

On the third morning our crew returned on 
board and we set sail for Boston. As we sailed 
past the Cape, we met numbers of fishing vessels 
returning to their port of discharge, laden with 
mackerel. Smyra, who had made several trips 
" mackereling," was loud in his praise of fishing, 
and unceasing in his fish stories. 

" Have you never been fishing?" said he. "You 
ought to go. It's great fun; and besides, I believe 
one can make more there than at coasting." 

I paid little attention at first to his remarks ; 
but his continued laudation of fishing life at last 
induced me to ask the captain if " mackerel catch- 
ing " was indeed a money-making business. He 
owned that in good seasons there was money 
made at it, but thought that steady wages were 
much preferable. I considered on the matter. 
Somehow, shortly, the old desire for novelty took 
possession of me, and I determined that after com- 
pleting the return trip to New York, I would 
make trial of" mackereling." 

Our voyage to Boston and back to New York 
was notable for naught but its plentiful lack of 



MACKEKELING. 351 

excitement. The coaster is the drudge among 
seamen. He shares all the severe toil, and much 
of the danger incident to a sailor's life, without 
any particle of romance to redeem its common- 
placeness. "With him it is the same old story. New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, or whatever 
may be his trading points, they present no strange 
scenes, no new life to his view. For a real pro- 
saic, matter of fact, anti-poetic existence, commend 
me to a coaster. One voyage was ever quite suffi- 
cient to last me a year. 

So, by the time we reached New York again, I 
was quite ready to dive into some new phase of 
life, and gladly availed myself of the offer of a 
Cape captain to take me down home with him, 
and procure me a berth in a " mackerel catcher." 

I sailed back to Harwich in a little schooner 
bound that way. On the vessel's arrival, I pro- 
ceeded ashore, in company with the crew. By the 
kindness of one, I was introduced to a good widow 
lady, who consented to board me while on shore, 
and care somewhat for my effects while away. 
Thus a kind of home was provided for me, where 
at very little cost to myself, I could spend a few 
days after each cruise, in comfortable though 
rather solitary enjoyment. Solitary, because on 
the Cape a u stranger" is looked upon with some 
degree of distrust. The Cape people are tolerably 
clannish ; and although universally kind-hearted, 
never fail to remind a new coiner that he is not 
one of them. In this, they are not indeed far 



352 WHALING AND FISHING. 

wrong, for many of the strangers who temporarily 
sojourn in the fishing villages, and find employ- 
ment as mackerel and cod fishermen, are not too 
trustworthy ; while most of them come only on 
the rather selfish errand of making a little money 
for themselves, to carry to some more congenial 
place than the Cape, to spend. 

I remained a few days on shore, while the ves- 
sel in which I had secured a berth was being made 
ready for her first cruise. In these days, I saw 
sufiicient of the Cape to convince me that it is 
not the most pleasant spot on the surface of our 
globe. The face of the country affords a not over 
agreeable diversity of views, consisting of sand- 
hills and salt water marshes, scrub oaks and 
stunted pines ; the ground work and filling up of 
the picture being sand, the abundance of which 
amply entitles the country to the euphonious name 
of " the Great Desert of Cape Cod." 

The shores of the harbors are masses of sand. 
Flats extend some distance into the water, making 
necessary the building of long, dreary-looking 
wharves. Even to these wharves the little fishing 
vessels can get only at high tide. Here they dis- 
charge their fish ; and here, in the fish houses, they 
are sorted, inspected and branded, when they are 
ready for shipment, ISTorth, South, East and West. 

The outlook seaward is scarcely more dreary 
than that from the sea landward. The stunted 
vegetation, the snug but lonely looking little 
houses, the great, barn-like structures called fish 



THE CAPE. 353 

houses, each with the Avooden image of a codfish 
or mackerel swinging from its steep roof, the 
absence of grass or aught of green near the shores, 
and above all and mixed with all, the everlasting 
glare of the sand, all united to give the shores of 
the Cape a most desolate appearance. 

Where a country is poor the people are gener- 
ally thriving and — in their way — happy. So it is 
here. I don't know that a fisherman's life exactly 
fills my ideal of a happy existence. But the peo- 
ple are universally frugal, industrious and intelli- 
gent — their wants are few, their tastes the reverse 
of luxurious, and the labor of their hands suffices 
to make them a competence — so that after all, 
making due allowance for the many hardshijDs of 
their peculiar life, they are very happy. 

The widow lady with whom I had made my 
home on my arrival on shore, was kind enough to 
provide me with many little articles, necessary 
only on such a trip as I was about to make. She 
set apart for my use, during my stay on shore, a 
neat little room, in which — for the first time since 
starting to sea — I made myself perfectly at home. 
Here I enjoyed once more, to some degree, a free- 
dom from exciting care, which seldom falls to the 
sailor's lot. The quiet of the country — how much 
and often I had longed for it ! — did my soul good, 
and I found myself in a condition of mind to sit 
down and reason with myself on the folly of the 
life which I had so long been leading. Here was 
strengthened my previously formed determination 
23 



35-4 WHALING AND FISHING. 

to leave the sea, and make myself a place " on 
shore " — that mystery to a sailor, whose visits to 
the land are just sufficiently long to make the 
slwre life a marvel to him. 

A little clipper schooner, the Mary Hawes, was 
just fitting out for a mackerel cruise. She had 
made two trips to " the banks " that year, had 
been successful in both, and her captain was now 
about to complete the year's work by a couple of 
months' mackereling. Captain Jonathan Young 
had the name of being a smart fisherman; a "very 
fishy man," as those who knew him best called him. 
He was bred to the business, and was supposed to 
know the haunts and motions of cod fish and 
mackerel as well as any one in that part of the 
country. It was a natural consequence that such a 
man should gather about him an able crew. Some 
of his men were not to be beaten ; several had at 
different times been "high line" from Harwich ; 
and all were good fishermen. I was fortunate in 
securing a berth in her, as I there enjoyed the ad- 
vantage of all their experience to enlighten my 
ignorance. 

Fishermen do not of course labor at regular 
wages. The business is carried on on shares. 
The vessel has a certain share of the general 
catch. The captain has a share for his additional 
trouble and responsibility. An account is kept of 
provisions and fish -bait used, and this is fairly 
averaged among the creAV. Each man keeps his 
fish separate, and when they are " packed " (that 



PISHING AT HALF-LINE. 355 

is to say, inspected and sorted), he receives either 
his net share of the fish, or their equivalent in 
money at the highest market price. 

Sometimes, young men make a different arrange- 
ment, which is called "fishing for halves." They 
agree with some one ashore, generally a packer 
or inspector, to give him all their catch, he paying 
them in return one half its value, in cash, and 
taking the risk of making a clear profit from the 
balance. If the season is favorable and the fisher- 
man has good fortune, the shoresman makes 
money by this, while if the catch is small, he loses 
— the provisions and other incidental expenses 
averaging as high in one case as in the other. 

Through the kindness of a friend, I was intro- 
duced to a gentleman who, in consideration that 
I was to go in the Mary Hawes, agreed to let me 
fish for him at " half-line." This arrangement 
gave me great satisfaction, as it reduced my 
chances more to a certainty ; and I felt just 
then a strong desire to make them as certain as 
possible. 

Fancy me then on board. Oiled clothes, a 
barvel (an oiled cloth apron), hooks and lines, a 
bait knife, fishing mittens, and divers other mat- 
ters needed to make up a perfect fishing outfit, 
are procured ; two suits of clothes, and an indefi- 
nite quantity of rags (for sores, my landlady says,) 
are snugly stowed away in a white clothes-bag. 
A stock of "Vineyard" stockings, and a few 
interesting books are duly placed under the mat- 



356 WHALING AND FISHING. 

tress in my narrow berth ; and so with a good 
breeze we get under way. 

"The fleet," as the collection of mackerel fish- 
ermen is called, is known to be off Portland. 
Thither then we wend our way — slowly enough — 
with light winds and calms. The first two or 
three days out, all hands are busied in preparing 
fish gear. " Jigs," as the peculiar hooks used to 
catch mackerel are called, are cast and burnished 
up ; lines are stretched, measured and coiled away ; 
beckets and cleats are placed opposite each man's 
place at the rail ; and these places are fairly por- 
tioned off and marked, in order that no confusion 
may arise when fish are " along side." All these 
matters duly attended to, and there is room to 
look about us, and occasion to express impatience 
at our slow progress toward the fleet. 

I presume I ought to describe as nearly as may 
be, the appearance of the craft in which I now 
found myself. She was schooner rigged — that is, 
had two masts, and fore and aft sails. She was 
a neatly built, sharp little craft of about one 
hundred and fifty tons burthen. Our crew num- 
bered twelve men besides the cook. The galley, 
or cooking stove and kitchen generally, was in the 
forecastle, a narrow and dark little hole, about six 
by eight feet, exclusive of the berths — which 
berths, I may add, were all occupied. 

One half the crew slept in the forecastle. The 
other and older half found their sleeping accom- 
modations in the cabin. This was another con- 



A FISH CREW. 357 

tracted den, about six by ten feet. Its center was 
completely occupied by a table, from which all 
hands partook of their food. Locker-seats ranged 
along the side, fitted to this table. A row of 
shelves and a box compass and quadrant fill one 
end; a small coal stove and the hatch ladder, the 
other. A sky-light overhead gives necessary 
light. The whole smells villainously of decayed 
fish. 

The hold is filled with barrels, some empty, 
some full of water, used as ballast. The deck 
contains naught but a bait-mill, a barrel of bait, 
and some strike barrels which it is hoped we shall 
shortly fill with mackerel. 

The crew were a set of genuine Cape men. I 
was the only "stranger" on board. The rest 
were all born and bred fishermen : quick moving, 
nervous men in fact, although they seemed, when 
unexcited, slow enough to please the most lym- 
phatic Hollander. Our captain was a tall, portly 
man, blue eyed but dark complexioned, and of a 
fair presence. He was reputed — as he afterward 
proved himself — the most skillful fisherman on 
board. His lines and jigs were fitted with the 
most scrupulous nicety. He had a set for every 
kind of weather we were likely to experience, 
from the large line and heavy jig to be used only 
on fish-days or in rough weather, to the most del- 
icate fly-lines, with minute hooks and jigs, with 
which to tempt the daintiest of mackerel on 
smooth days. 



358 WHALING AND FISHING. 

He was a man of infinite patience. In a calm 
he would lean over the rail for hours at a time, 
once in a while hauling in a huge mackerel, while 
the others were lounging idly about decks, or if 
at the rail at all, were inattentive to their lines. 
His exhortations to others to attend to the fish, 
were ceaseless, while fish were along side. 

" Now they bite, boys ; here's a spirt ! " he 
would cry whenever, by unusual wariness, he 
succeeded in capturing a mackerel. Then would 
follow a rush to the rail, a few moments of breath- 
less attention, and finally, " now they don't bite, 
boys," from some disappointed lounger, as he fell 
back upon the deck or hatchway. Such was " the 
skipper," and a better man could not be found to 
command a fishing vessel. 



THE FLEET. 359 



CHAPTER XIX. 

«« The Fleet " — A Night Scene— The First Day on Fish Ground 
— Habits of Mackerel — Advantages of being in a Fast Vessel 
—Why there is a " Fleet "—Method of Taking Mackerel- 
Bait used — Monotony of the Fisherman's Life — A Fish-day — 
Premonitory Symptoms — Rain — "Shorten Up" — Breakfast 
— Dressing Fish — Making a Harbor — Salting down — Coming 
to Anchor — After Supper Comforts — The Morning after a 
Storm— The Close of the Trip— Depart for New York— I 
Determine to quit the Sea — and do so — Difficulties Attending 
such a Change, with the Sailor. 

It was on the fifth night after leaving our port, 
that we came into "the fleet." During the day 
an occasional homeward bounder, steering off with 
all sail set, had passed us. Toward evening, white 
sails were visible in many directions. At sunset 
we were already near the outsiders, the videttes 
of the fleet. And before retiring to rest we were 
in the midst of the vast collection of vessels, their 
innumerable lights glistening upon the smooth 
expanse of ocean, and dancing solemnly up and 
down on the great swell which the Atlantic ever 
keeps up, much more resembling the vessels in a 
vast naval panorama, than a scene of real life. 

There is something solemn and thought-inspir- 
ing in a scene like this, at all events to a thinking 



360 WHALING AND FISHING. 

person who for the first time witnesses it. The 
entire stillness which reigns by night over this 
vast aquatic town, the absence of all noise except 
the continual faint roar of the swell, the sorrowful 
creaking of the rigging, and the solitary " sug " 
of the vessel's bow, as she falls into the trough of 
the sea ; the bare poles of the distant vessels 
thrown in vivid, almost unnatural relief against 
the sky ; the crazy motion of the little barks, as 
they are tossed about at the mercy of the waves, 
having scarce steerage way; the lonely-looking 
light on the mast, seeming to be the spirit which 
has entire charge of the hull beneath ; the absence 
of all life where but a short time ago all was life 
and bustle : all this contrasted so strangely with 
the lively appearance of the vessels by day, as 
they skim rapidly over the waters, their great 
piles of snow-white canvas gleaming gayly in the 
sun, and their crews moving merrily about decks, 
as to make me almost doubt that there were in 
fact in the shapeless masses drifting past us, hither 
and thither, at the mercy of wind and wave, men 
stout and able, who had often battled for their 
lives with the same old Ocean upon whose bosom 
they were now so placidly reposing. 

But here comes one, rolling toward us, 

" As silent as a painted ship, upon a painted ocean," 
and seemingly just as likely to hit us as not. We 
hail him. 

" Schooner ahoy ! " 

"Hillo!" is answered by a tall figure which, 



AT DAWN. 361 

starts up from a reclining posture on the com- 
panion hatch. 

" How many mackerel did you get to day ? " 

" About twenty wash-barrels, mostly large." 

" Did the fleet do anything ? " 

" Some of them lay still a good while, and I 
guess had pretty good fishing." 

Here some of our crew mutter out a weak im- 
precation upon the weather, which has prevented 
us from joining the fleet before. Our friend hails 
us — 

" Are you just from home ? " 

"Yes; all well there." — And the faint sound of 
the waves as they surge under his bows tells us 
that we are too wide apart for speaking purposes. 

Standing a little farther on, into the thickest of 
the fleet, we too, about nine o'clock, hauled down 
our mainsail and jibs, and leaving one man on 
deck as a look-out, went below to prepare by a 
sound sleep for the labors of the morrow. 

At early dawn we turned out to make sail. 
Although yet too dark to distinguish the numer- 
ous fleet in whose midst we had taken our place, 
our ears were saluted on all sides by the rattle of 
ropes, the creak of blocks, and the rustling of can- 
vas, and we were conscious that ten thousand men 
were actively employed around us, at the same 
moment, in the same work, and preparing for 
similar duties and labors. 

As the day breaks, a grand spectacle bursts upon 
our view. The sky is clear, and the sun, as he 



362 WHALING AND FISHING. 

rises above the eastern horizon, gilds with his rays 
the sails of a thousand vessels, as they lie spread 
out upon the mirror-like surface of the sea. And 
now our crew begin looking for acquaintances 
among the vessels. My astonishment is unbounded 
at hearing them name vessels distant from a 
quarter of a mile to six or seven miles, and that 
with perfect certainty of their correctness. To 
such perfection has practice trained the vision of 
these men that notwithstanding mackerel catch- 
ers are scrupulously rigged alike, the crew would 
point out not only schooners with which they 
were acquainted, but also tell the hailing -places of 
many which they had never seen before. 

As an old salt, I prided myself not a little on 
my expertness in detecting differences in rig or 
build, but was obliged here to give uj) my art as 
completely beaten. For where I could not detect 
the slightest distinguishing characteristic, the 
experienced eyes of one of my companions would 
at one glance reveal the whole history of the ves- 
sel in question, and would enable him to tell, with 
a certainty which scarcely ever failed, the place 
where she was built, where rigged, and where at 
present owned. This wonderful faculty is the 
result of- keen eyes and long experience, and is 
found nowhere else in such perfection as among 
American fishermen. 

Lying to for a little while, to try for fish, we 
shortly got under way, and stood on with the 
rest of the fleet. The wind was from North -west 



MOTIONS OF THE FLEET. 363 

and every one of the nine or ten hundred vessels 
composing the fleet, are tacked to the Northward. 
It was curious to watch their motions. They 
have no head, no organization of any kind ; yet do 
they move as much in concert as would the best 
organized naval fleet, working by the signals of 
their commodore. 

See, the headmost vessel of the fleet is in stays. 
There the next one tacks. Little squads of half 
a dozen follow suit; and in fifteen minutes the 
whole fleet is on the other tack, standing to the 
westward. And so we go all day, working to the 
windward as fast as the light breeze will bear us 
along. Every once in a while some one heaves to 
and tries for mackerel. But mackerel won't bite 
well, in general, on such a day as this ; and this 
day we don't see a live one at all 

Mackerel go in large schools, one of which con- 
tains fish enough, if all caught, to fill up every 
vessel in a fleet. But, vast as such a body is, it 
occupies but a very small space in the ocean which 
supports it. A school of fish, therefore, is to be 
searched out much as one would look for a needle 
in a haystack — unwearying patience and deter- 
mination being qualifications as necessary to con- 
stitute a successful fisherman as to make one a 
fortunate searcher for needles. 

The fishery is pursued in small vessels, of from 
thirty to one hundred and twenty tons, and inva- 
riably of the " schooner " rig, that is, having two 
masts and " fore and aft " sails. The business 



364 AY HALING AND FISHING. 

commences in the latter part of March, when the 
mackerel first return to our coasts from their 
winter's absence in more southern waters, and 
lasts until the end of November. At that time 
the fish — and of course their pursuers also — have 
made the entire circuit of our eastern coast, from 
the capes of Delaware, off which they are first seen 
in early spring, to the extreme borders of Maine 
and the bays of British. America, and back again 
as far as the headland of Cape Cod. Thence the 
fish — about Thanksgiving Day — take their final 
departure for their as yet undiscovered winter 
quarters. 

All attempts made by enterprising fishermen 
to follow the mackerel, after they leave " the 
Cape," have hitherto proved utterly futile, every 
trace of the vast school which annually congre- 
gates there being invariably lost within fifty miles 
of the south shoals of Nantucket. Many different 
surmises have been offered to account for their sud- 
den disappearance, and various theories started by 
those curious in such matters, to explain the why 
and wherefore of the eccentric motions of a school 
of mackerel. But the matter is apparently just 
as much in the dark as ever, and their disappear- 
ance about Thanksgiving time remains as much 
a subject for speculation as the similar annual 
disappearance of swallows. Many, wise in such 
matters, think that the fish, after leaving our 
coast, lie at the bottom of the sea, in compara- 
tively shoal water, in a state of stupefaction until 



THE RACE IS TO THE SWIFT. 365 

the return of warm weather ; others suppose that 
they emigrate to warmer latitudes, where they 
swim deep beneath the surface, in order to keep 
themselves in a temperature suited to their nature ; 
and many old fishermen devoutly believe that 
after leaving us they are, somehow, changed into 
fish of an entirely different species, and are met 
with in the tropical seas as albicores, bonita, etc. 
All that is known on the subject is, that those 
which leave the coast at the beginning of winter 
are of moderate size, but very fat; while those 
which return in the spring are large, extremely 
poor, and ravenously hungry. 

The vessels in which the fish are pursued and 
caught, are small, but stoutly built, formed to resist 
some degree of bad weather, and having, almost 
invariably, excellent sailing qualities. The latter, 
indeed, is a necessary qualification in a vessel 
intended for this business, as the success of a voy- 
age, in many instances, depends on a vessel get- 
ting to a certain place, where fish have been 
discovered, an hour sooner or later. 

Thus, it once happened that the entire fleet took 
shelter in Cape Ann harbor, on occasion of a 
storm. After lying in port two days the weather 
moderated. Early the following morning the 
fleet got under way. The first little squad of 
about a dozen vessels, manned probably by the 
most eager fishermen, but consisting also of the 
fastest sailing schooners, had about forty minutes 
start of the balance. It was a beautiful morning. 



366 WHALING AND PISHING. 

A very light breeze prevailed, before which none 
but the sharpest vessels could make headway. 
These had hardly gotten clear of the land, when 
they " struck " mackerel. They at once " hove 
to," and did not again get under way until their 
decks ivere filled — the fish biting all this time as 
fast as they could be hauled in. Meantime, the 
slower moving portion of the fleet had just time 
to reach the harbor's mouth when the little breeze 
which had carried them thus far died away, and 
it fell a dead calm ; and they were actually forced 
to lie there, within four or five miles of a vast 
school of fish, and in plain sight of their more 
fortunate companions, without feeling a bite. 

" The fleet " is an aggregate of all the vessels 
engaged in the mackerel fishery. Experience has 
taught fishermen that the surest way to find mack- 
erel is to cruise in one vast body, whose line of 
search will then extend over an area of many miles. 
When, as sometimes happens, a single vessel falls in 
with a large "school," the catch is of course much 
greater. But vessels cruising separately or in 
small squads are much less likely to fall in with 
fish than is the large fleet. " The fleet" is there- 
fore the aim of every mackerel fisherman. The 
best vessels generally maintain a position to the 
windward. Mackerel mostly work to windward 
slowly, and those vessels farthest to windward in 
the fleet are therefore most likely to fall in with 
fish first ; while from their position they can quickly 
run down, should mackerel be raised to leeward. 



"raising" mackerel. 367 

Thus in a collection of from six hundred to a 
thousand vessels, cruising in one vast body, and 
spreading over many miles of water, is kept up a 
constant although silent and imperceptible com- 
munication, by means of incessant watching with 
good spyglasses. This is so thorough that a vessel 
at one end of the fleet can not have mackerel 
" alongside," technically speaking, five minutes, 
before every vessel in a circle, the diameter of 
which may be ten miles, will be aware of the fact, 
and every man of the ten thousand composing 
their crews will be engaged in spreading to the 
wind every available stitch of canvas to force each 
little bark as quickly as possible into close prox- 
imity to the coveted prize. And then commences 
the trial of speed. Then the best helmsman is 
called to steer ; every eye watches the sails, to see 
that they draw well, and every hand is ready to 
jump to remedy any defect. Then is the anxious 
moment for fishermen ; for they see spread out 
before them a vast school of fish, in the midst of 
which lie the few favored vessels which have suc- 
ceeded in raising them, and are now reaping a 
golden harvest. This is indeed the most exciting 
scene in the experience of a mackerel catcher. 

The fish are caught with hook and line, each 
fisherman using two lines. When hauled on 
board, they are "struck" off by a peculiarly quick 
motion of the right hand and arm, into a "strike 
barrel" standing behind and a little to the right 
of its proprietor. The same motion which leaves 



368 WHALING AND PISHING. 

the mackerel in the barrel also suffices to project 
the hook (which has a little pewter run on its 
shank) back into the water, and the fisherman 
immediately catches wp his other line, going 
through the same maneuver with it. So raven- 
ously do the fish bite, that a barrel full is some- 
times caught in fifteen minutes by a single man. 

The bait used to entice them alongside, and keep 
them there afterward, consists of a mixture of 
clams and a little fish known by the euphonious 
name of "porgies." The last are seined in great 
quantities every summer in the mouth of the Con- 
necticut river, and the adjacent waters, and are 
used by farmers as manure for their land, as well 
as by mackerel catchers as bait. This bait is 
ground up fine in a mill provided on board for 
the purpose, and is then thrown out on the water. 
It sinks to the depth at which the fish lie, when 
they, in their eagerness for it, follow it up until 
they get alongside the vessel. Once alongside, 
they bite indiscriminately at bait or naked hook. 

Life on board a "mackerel catcher" is very 
monotonous. There is literally nothing to do. 
One man who can steer can work the craft all day. 
The sails are so arranged that in tacking they 
work themselves. The hands do therefore what 
they please. Some sleep, some read, some talk 
over old times, and a few old fishermen sit upon 
the quarter, hour after hour, spyglass in hand, 
watching the fleet and wishing for fish. 

Some days we catch a few mackerel ; some days 



A FISH-DAY. 369 

we do not see a " live one," but tack and tack to 
windward all day long, glad when the setting sun 
proclaims the time for "heaving to " and going 
below to sleep. After more than a week of this 
kind of life, there comes a day when fishermen 
begin to prophecy the approach of a" regular 
fish day." 

All day the wind is light and baffling, while a 
swell comes rolling in from the eastward, which 
makes our little vessel tumble about strangely— 
sails slatting, and blocks creaking mournfully in 
the calm. 

Toward evening the wind goes down, the sky is 
overcast by white clouds, and the weather becomes 
a pea-jacket colder. Having found no fish all day, 
we take in sail early, see everything clear for a 
" fish-day " to-morrow, and, all but the watch (one 
man), turn in about eight o'clock. 

At midnight, when I am called up out of my 
warm bed to stand an hour's watch, I find the 
vessel pitching uneasily, and hear the breeze blow- 
ing fitfully through the naked rigging. Going on 
deck I perceive that both wind and sea have "got 
up" since we retired to rest. The sky looks low- 
ering, and the clouds are evidently surcharged 
with rain. In fine the weather, as my predeces- 
sor on watch informs me, bears every sign of an 
excellent fish -day on the morrow. I accordingly 
grind some bait, sharpen up my hooks once more, 
see my lines clear, and my heaviest jigs (the tech- 
nical term for hooks with pewter run on them), 
24 



370 WHALING AND FISHING. 

on the rail ready for use, and at one o'clock return 
to my comfortable bunk. I am soon again asleep, 
and dreaming of hearing fire-bells ringing, and 
seeing men rush to the fire ; and just as I see "the 
machine " round the corner of the street, am start- 
led out of my propriety, my dream, sleep, and all, 
by the loud cry of " Fish ho ! " 

I start up desperately in my narrow bunk, 
bringing my cranium in violent contact with a 
beam overhead, which has the effect of knocking 
me flat down in my berth again. After recovering 
as much consciousness as is necessary to appre- 
ciate my position, I roll out of bed, jerk savagely 
at my boots, and snatching up my cap and pea- 
jacket, make a rush at the companion way, up 
which I manage to fall in my haste, and then 
spring into the hold for a strike-barrel. 

And now the mainsail is up, the jib down, and 
the captain is throwing bait. It is not yet quite 
light, but we hear other mainsails going up all 
round us. A cool drizzle makes the morning un- 
mistakably uncomfortable, and we stand around 
half asleep, with our sore hands in our pockets, 
wishing we were at home. The skipper, how- 
ever, is holding his lines over the rail with an air 
which clearty intimates that the slightest kind of 
a nibble will be quite sufficient this morning to 
seal the doom of a mackerel. 

" There, by Jove ! the captain hauls back — 
there, I told you so ! skipper's got him — no — aha, 
captain, you haul back too savagely ! " 



"SHORTEN UP." 371 

"With, the first movement of the captain's arm, 
indicating the presence of fish, everybody rushes 
madly to the rail. Jigs are heard on all sides 
plashing into the water, and eager hands and 
arms are stretched at their fall length over the 
side, feeling anxiously for a nibble. 

" Sh — hish — there's something just passed my 
fly — I felt him," says an old man standing along- 
side of me. 

" Yes, and I've got him," triumphantly shouts 
out the next man on the other side of him, haul- 
ing in as he speaks, a fine mackerel, and striking 
him off into his barrel in the most approved style. 

Z — Z — zip goes my line through and deep into 
my poor fingers, as a huge mackerel rushes sav- 
agely away with what he finds is not so great a 
prize as he thought it. I get confoundedly flur- 
ried, miss stroke half a dozen times in hauling in 
as many fathoms of line, and at length succeed in 
landing my first fish safely in my barrel, where 
he flounders away "most melodiously," as my 
neighbor says. 

And now it is fairly daylight, and the rain, 
which has been threatening all night, begins to 
pour down in right earnest. As the heavy drops 
patter on the sea the fish begin to bite fast and 
furiously. 

" Shorten up," says the skipper, and we shorten 
in our lines to about eight feet from the rail to 
the hooks, when we can jerk them in just as fast 
as we can move our hands and arms. " Keep 



372 WHALING AND FISHING. 

your lines clear," is now the word, as the doomed 
fish flip faster and faster into the barrels standing 
to receive them. Here is one greedy fellow 
already casting furtive glances behind him, and 
calculating in his mind how many fish he will 
have to lose in the operation of getting his second 
strike-barrel. 

Now you hear no sound except the steady flip of 
fish into the barrels. Every face wears an expres- 
sion of anxious determination ; every body moves 
as though by springs ; every heart beats loud with 
excitement, and every hand hauls in fish and 
throws out hooks with a methodical precision, a 
kind of slow haste, which unites the greatest speed 
with the utmost security against fouling lines. 

And now the rain increases. AYe hear jibs rat- 
tling down ; and glancing up hastily, I am sur- 
prised to find our vessel surrounded on all sides 
by the fleet, which has already become aware that 
we have got fish alongside. Meantime the wind 
rises, and the sea struggles against the rain, which 
is endeavoring with its steady patter to subdue 
the turmoil of old Ocean. We are already on our 
third barrel each, and still the fish come in as fast 
as ever, and the business (sport it has ceased to be 
some time since), continues with vigor undimin- 
ished. Thick beads of perspiration chase each 
other down our faces. Jackets, caps, and even 
over -shirts, are thrown off, to give more freedom 
to limbs that are worked to their utmost 

" Hillo ! where are the fish ? " All gone ? Every 



THE FLEET ON A FISH-DAY. 373 

line is felt eagerly for a bite, but not the faintest 
nibble is perceptible. The mackerel, which but 
a moment ago were fairly rushing on board, have 
in that moment disappeared so completely that 
not a sign of one is left. The vessel next under 
our lee holds them a little longer than we, but 
they finally also disappear from her side. And 
so on all around us 

And now we have time to look about us — to 
compare notes on each other's successes — to 
straighten our back bones, nearly broken and 
aching horribly with the constant reaching over ; 
to examine our fingers, cut to pieces and grown 
sensationless with the perpetual dragging of small 
lines across them — to — " There, the skipper's got 
a bite ! — here they are again, boys, and big fellows 
too ! " Everybody rushes once more to the rail, 
and business commences again, but not at so fast 
a rate as before. By-and-by there is another ces- 
sation, and we hoist our jib and run off a little 
way, into a new birth. 

While running across, I take the first good look 
at the state of affairs in general. We lie, as before 
said, nearly in the center of the whole fleet, which 
from originally covering an area of perhaps fif- 
teen miles each way, has "knotted up" into a 
little space, not above two miles square. In many 
places, although the sea is tolerably rough, the 
vessels lie so closely together that one could almost 
jump from one to the other. The greatest skill 
and care are necessary on such occasions to keep 



374 WHALING AND FISHING. 

them apart, and prevent the inevitable consequen- 
ces of a collision, a general smash-up of masts, 
booms, bulwarks, etc. Yet a great fish-day like 
this rarely passes off without some vessels sus- 
taining serious damage. We thread our way 
among the vessels with as much care, and as dain- 
tily as a man would walk over ground covered 
with eggs ; and finally get into a berth under lee 
of a vessel which seems to hold the fish pretty 
well. Here we fish away by spells, for they have 
become "spirty," that is, they are capricious, and 
appear and disappear suddenly. 

Meanwhile the rain continues pouring out of 
the leaden sky, which looks as though about to 
fall on us, and overwhelm us in a second deluge. 
The wind is getting high ; and the old hands are 
debating among themselves as to the most judi- 
cious port to be made to-night. At ten we get 
breakfast, consisting of coffee, hot cakes, bread 
and butter, fish, beef, sweet cakes, and apple 
sauce. The morning's exercise has given us all a 
ravenous appetite, and the celerity with which 
the various comestibles spread out for us by the 
cook are made to disappear, would astonish a 
dyspeptic. 

After breakfast, we begin to clear up decks a 
little, preparatory to experiencing some part of 
the rough weather which is brewing. Oil clothes 
are in great demand, but the rain somehow con- 
trives to soak through them, and they form but 
little protection. We secure our mackerel barrels 



DRESSING. 375 

to the bulwarks, lash up the various loose objects 
about decks, and put on the hatches. The fish 
still bite, but more moderately, and by " spirts," 
and in the half liquid state in which we all find 
ourselves, we mechanically hold our lines over the 
rail and haul in fish with as little motion to our 
bodies as possible ; for the skin in such weather 
gets marvelously tender, and is apt to rub off on 
very slight provocation. 

At one o'clock "Seat ye, one half," from the 
cook, proclaims dinner on the table, and "one 
half" accordingly go down to "finish their break- 
fast," as a facetious shipmate remarks. The cabin 
of a fisherman be it known is too confined to 
accommodate an entire fishing crew with seats 
around the table, and accordingly it is customary 
for the oldest hands to eat first, leaving the young 
men and boys to follow at second table. 

After dinner we make preparations for dressing 
our fish. Gib-tubs, split-knives, barrels, wash- 
barrels, buckets, mittens, and sea-boots, are hunted 
up, and water begins to flow about decks more 
plentifully than ever. Mackerel are "dressed" 
by splitting them down the back, taking out their 
entrails (called in fishermen's parlance " gibs "), 
clearing them of blood by immersion in salt water, 
and then salting them down in layers, in the bar- 
rels prepared for that purpose. 

Two persons compose a "gang" for dressing. 
One of them splits the fish and throws them to 
the other, who by a dexterous twist of his thumbs 



376 WHALING AND FISHING. 

and the fingers of his right hand, extracts the 
entrails and throws the cleaned fish into a bar- 
rel of salt water at hand. " Dressing " fish is 
disagreeable work in itself, but generally passes 
off lively enough, as it is the concluding scene 
in what fishermen call "a day's work." One 
now learns how much he has in reality caught, 
and miser-like plunges up to the armpits in the 
riches he has that day won. Then too, dressing 
is enlivened by many a jest, and anecdote, and 
song, every body feeling joyful at the events of the 
day, and hopeful for the success of the voyage. 
And while the operation of catching fish is fol- 
lowed with an intensity and ardor which does not 
admit of the slightest flagging of attention, dressing 
is the very reverse, and may be made as lively as 
possible without detriment to the work. 

Soon after commencing to dress, the whole 
fleet gets under way, and steers toward the land, 
which is faintly visible under our lee, the wind 
being from the northeast. Going square before 
it, we soon near the land, and as we do so, both 
wind and sea increase. ~\Ye have a grand chance 
to try the sailing qualities of our little boat — a 
chance which a mackerel man never neglects ; 
for next to getting a good share of fish, a man is 
considered most fortunate if he has a smart sail- 
ing vessel. "We overhaul a good many, and are 
badly beaten by a few of the vessels, as might 
be expected in so large a fleet. And as we 
come into competition with some new vessel, 



GOING INTO PORT. 377 

our crew tell at once her name, if she is known 
to them, or if entirely unknown, at any rate her 
hailing place. 

After dressing, we salt our catch. This is sorry 
work for sore fingers, hands, and arms, of which, 
after a day's work like the present, there is always 
a plentiful supply, mackereling being under any 
circumstances a business in which sores of all kinds 
on hands and feet are singularly plenty and hard 
to get rid of. But salting does not last forever, 
and the few preparations for going into harbor 
being already completed, we gather together, as 
dusk comes on, in little knots about the deck, dis- 
cuss the day's work, point out familiar vessels, and 
argue on their various sailing qualities, and once 
in a while slily peep down the " companion-way " 
into the snug little cabin, where the "ram-cat" 
(the sailors' name for a cabin stove) glows so 
brightly, and every thing looks so comfortable, 
and in particular so dry, that our hearts yearn for 
a place by the fire. Landsmen, poor fellows, have 
no idea how great an amount of real, unmistakable 
comfort may be contained in a little box eight feet 
by twelve, with a table in the middle, seats and 
berths at the sides, a stove and hatchway at one 
end, a row of shelves and a box-compass at the 
other, and a skylight over head, the whole smell- 
ing villainously of decayed fish and bilge-water. 
Happily for mankind, all happiness is compara- 
tive, else would not the dirty, confined cabin of a 
fisherman ever be considered a very Elysium of 



378 WHALING AND FISHING. 

comfort, and a seat by its fire be regarded as a 
luxury, than which the conqueror of the world 
can wish for nothing better. 

"We are fast nearing our haven. And glad 
enough we all are of it, for the wind has risen 
until it already blows half a gale, and the great 
waves roll after us savagely, trying to overtake 
us, and looking as though if they did, they would 
inevitably smother our little craft. And then 
too, as the excitement of the day dies out, and 
we stand inactively about, the rain seems colder, 
and our wet clothes adhere clammily to our 
bodies, and make moving about a misery. Yon- 
der is East Point Light shining brightly on our 
beam. The headmost of our companions have 
already shot around the point, and are running 
up to their anchorage. 

" Man your sheets now, boys, and stand by to 
trim aft !" sings out our skipper. As we string 
along the ropes the helm goes down. She comes 
into the wind, shaking like a dog just come out 
of the water, and at the same time the sails 
are trimmed flat, and we gayly round the point. 
In less than fifteen minutes we are in smooth 
water. 

Two tacks take us nearly up to Ten Pound 
Island Light, and as we stand over once more, 

"Haul down the foresail!" shouts the captain. 
" Stand by your main and jib halyards ! see your 
anchor all clear! " 

"There's a good berth, skipper," says one of 



ANCHORING. 379 

the old hands, " right alongside of that Chatham 
smack." (It is so dark that, do my best, I can 
not make out even the rig of the vessel to which 
my old friend so readily gives a " local habitation 
and a name." 

Here we are — down jib ! " and down it rattles 
without any trouble, as her head swings into the 
wind. As her headway is deadened, "let go the 
anchor !" is the word, and a plash, and the rattle 
of a few fathoms of cable tell us that we arc fast 
for the night. 

"Pay out cable, boys; a good scope, and let 
her ride easy ! " and the rest of us go aft and 
haul down the enormous mainsail, the wet can- 
vas of which feels as though made of stout wire. 
It is soon furled up, and a lantern fastened in the 
rigging, and then we make a general rush for the 
cabin. Here wet clothes and boots are flung off 
and thrown pell mell on deck, dry suits donned, 
and then " one half" crawl into their bunks, while 
the balance eat their suppers. 

Meanwhile we hear an incessant rattling of 
sails and plashing of anchors on every side of 
us, while the wind whistles wildly through our 
rigging, and the rain dashes fiercely against the 
skylight and deck overhead, increasing our com- 
fort by reminding us of the sufferings we have 
escaped. 

It is not until after supper that we begin to 
think of the damages sustained in our persons 
during the past day's work. And now rags, 



380 WHALING AND FISHING. 

salve, and liniment, and all the various prepa- 
rations for ameliorating the condition of sore 
fingers, sore wrists, sore arms, sore feet, sore 
ankles, and sore shins, are brought into requi- 
sition ; the cook is flattered and cajoled out of 
modicums of hot fresh water; and stockings are 
taken off, sleeves rolled up, bandages unrolled, 
and groans and growls resound from every corner 
of the cabin. 

Before retiring to rest I take a peep on deck. 
The gale is roaring fiercely through the bare rig- 
ging, and a blinding storm of hail and sleet, a 
blast of which salutes my face as I put it out of 
the companion-way, adds to the inclemency of the 
night. The dark storm-clouds scud wildly across 
the sky, and the wind fairly shrieks at times, 
as though glorying in the strength to bear down 
everything coming in its path. It is truly a wild 
night, and as I descend again to my comfortable 
place by the fire, I think anxiously of the poor 
souls who are tossed about in such weather — cold, 
wet, and suffering at the mercy of the winds and 
waters. I am not alone in my thoughts, for as I 
shake the sleet off my rough cap, I hear our gray- 
headed old skipper mutter softly to himself, " God 
pity poor sailors who are caught in Boston Bay in 
this storm." 

We go to sleep early — get up late next morning 
■ — get breakfast — (the storm still raging) — head 
up, and strike down the mackerel caught the pre- 
ceding day ; clear up decks, and then go ashore or 



IN PORT. 381 

visit some of the other vessels. To do either of 
the latter, we do not require the assistance of 
boats, for the fleet has so crowded the harbor, 
that one can without difficulty walk from one side 
of the harbor to the other, a distance of three- 
fourths of a mile, on vessels. 

Toward evening the wind hauls to the north- 
ward, the weather clears up, and great snow-white 
clouds, looking like gigantic puffs of steam from 
some engine in the other world, roll grandly across 
the sky, sure signs of good weather. We "turn 
in" early, and are called out at three o'clock a. m. 
to get under way. We find every body around us 
in motion, some heaving up their anchors, others 
hoisting their sails, some with boats ahead, being 
towed out of the crowd, so as to enable them to 
shape a course, and a few already steering out of 
the harbor. "We follow suit with all haste, and 
daylight finds us in Boston Bay, with the fleet 
around us, and the hills of Cape Ann blue in the 
distance. 

Such is a fish day, with its accompaniments. 
Of a series of such, with the intervening periods 
of idleness, our trip was composed. It would be 
tedious to enter into a narrative of the voyage, 
therefore. Sufficient understanding of the de- 
lights and discomforts of the business will be 
gained by what I have recounted. Our first trip 
lasted five weeks. In that time we filled up every 
barrel on board. Eeturning to Harwich, we 
landed our cargo. Here the fish were assorted, 



382 WHALING AND FISHING. 

packed and weighed; and the barrels finally 
branded to show that they contain " 200 lbs. mack- 
erel," No. 1, 2, or 3, as the case may be. After four 
days detention, we set out upon another trip. This 
time we were four weeks in filling up our vessel. 
It was now getting cold. So upon our second re- 
turn to port, I left the vessel, received the returns 
for my labor, and with about forty dollars in my 
pocket, took passage in a schooner bound to New 
York. 

Shall I now make my pre-determined attempt to 
remain ashore ? was a question which incessantly 
engaged my mind. It seemed almost like a vain 
hope ; but I finally determined to make at least one 
strong effort. If that failed — it would be time 
enough to think what should be done afterward. 
On my arrival in New York I procured myself 
some "shore clothing," and for some days dili- 
gently sought a situation of some kind. It was 
not till this search for employment began, that I 
was made fully aware how utterly useless a sailor 
is for aught, except the most severe physical toil, 
on shore. It was only now I began to suspect 
that the habits of the ship had taken such entire 
possession of me as to unfit me for any other life 
than that of a sailor. Yet " a trial shall be made," 
thought I. In New York I had no friends. 
"Wherever I applied for employment, I was asked 
for references. Having none, it would next be 
asked, "What did you do last?" An acknowl- 
edgment that I had been a seaman was always 



STAYING ASHORE. 383 

productive of a speedy annihilation of my hopes. 
"I would like to take you," said the kindest man 
to whom I had occasion to apply, "but a sailor, 
you know, would never do for me. You would 
not remain a month at any steady employment." 

After a week spent in vain applications in New 
York, I shipped in a brig for Philadelphia. Here 
I was kindly but suspiciously received by good 
people who had befriended me when I first set out 
from home to go to sea. What struggles were 
necessary before I was able, even here, with the 
assistance of friends, to gain a firm footing ; how 
I was on every hand met with suspicion and dis- 
trust; how no one could believe that I would 
remain steadily ashore ; and how this very unbelief 
led me oft-times to think seriously of returning 
to my sea-life — doubting myself, because others 
doubted me — none of this need be more than 
mentioned here. Suffice it, that by a persistent 
effort, and a struggle through which I would not 
like again to pass, I at length proved to doubting 
friends that there is redemption for even a sailor. 

But to this day my firmest friends mildly doubt 
the permanency of my shore life. Shall I own, 
that I sometimes see that in a sailor's existence 
which is preferable to some lives on land ? 



AUG -1 I9M 






§1 



